One Nation One Election Bill: The BJP will send notices to MPs who were not present in the Lok Sabha today when the government’s flagship “One Country One Election Bill” was introduced, According to sources, more than 20 BJP MPs were absent during the division of the House. Earlier, the party had asked its Lok Sabha members to remain present in the House by sending a three-line whip to them.
Despite the non-attendance of the MPs, there was no problem in stopping both the bills which have been brought to amend the Constitution and allow simultaneous parliamentary and state elections.
But this absence provided an opportunity to the Congress, who claimed that this was proof that the government did not have full support on this issue.
The bills were passed by a simple majority, as required in the rulebook; 269 MPs supported and 198 opposed.
But the Congress pointed out that a 2/3 majority is needed to pass a Constitution amendment bill.
“Undoubtedly, the government has a lot of numbers… but a 2/3 majority is needed to pass Constitution amendment bills, which they do not have clearly,” Congress’ Shashi Tharoor told reporters. “It is obvious that they should not spend too much time on this,” he added.
Today in the Lok Sabha Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal introduced the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill.
The government plans to send this bill to a committee for discussion and take everyone along. This is important because for the changes that are to be made, a series of amendments will have to be brought in the Constitution. After that, these amendments will have to be ratified by the governments of every state and union territory.
There have been strong objections from the Opposition on this point. Many parties say this bill will undermine the Constitution – an allegation which the government has repeatedly denied.
Even today, when the bill was introduced, Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said, “Laws can be brought for electoral reforms… This bill is aligned to simplify the electoral process and will be synchronised. This bill will not cause any harm to the Constitution and there will be no tampering with the basic structure.”
