PANAJI
The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) examining the constitutional framework for simultaneous elections will visit Goa on July 10 and 11 as part of its nationwide consultations on the proposed 'One Nation, One Election' initiative, with the BJP-led State government all set to back the proposal while the Congress will strongly oppose it.
The committee, headed by PP Chaudhary, is examining the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which together seek to establish the legal and constitutional framework for holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies.
During the two-day visit, the committee is scheduled to interact with the Chief Minister, the Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly, Cabinet ministers, MLAs, senior State government officials, the Chief Electoral Officer, representatives of national and regional political parties, academicians, legal experts, industry bodies, public sector undertakings, eminent personalities and members of the local and regional media.
The committee will also hold discussions with representatives of higher educational institutions, professional associations, business and industry organisations and key central public sector enterprises functioning in the State.
Sources in the State government said the committee had circulated questionnaires to various authorities ahead of the visit and the responses would be submitted during the consultations.
"The government is very much in favour of simultaneous elections as it believes the system will be more cost-effective and improve governance," a government source said.
Sources said that the government is of the clear view that repeated elections lead to frequent enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct, resulting in a slowdown in decision-making and implementation of government programmes.
"Every time elections are held, there is a complete disruption of governance because of the Model Code of Conduct, which can remain in force for anywhere between one month and two to three months," a source said.
The Congress, however, is preparing to oppose the proposal before the committee. Party leaders said they would argue that the concept of 'One Nation, One Election' is against the basic structure of the Constitution and undermines India's federal democratic framework.
Congress leaders maintained that synchronising elections would weaken the autonomy of States and reduce the accountability of governments to the electorate.
