AG says ONOE bills don't breach statute; JPC tenure extended

NEW DELHI: On the day in which Lok Sabha passed a resolution extending the tenure of the

joint parliamentary committee

(JPC) till the Monsoon session of the Parliament,

Attorney General R Venkatramani

is said to have told its members on Tuesday that the bills for

simultaneous elections

do not trample on any feature of the Constitution and are good in law.
With a few of the legal experts who have appeared before the panel sharing concerns of some members over certain aspects of the

Constitution Amendment Bill

, Venkatramani asserted that the proposed laws do not require any amendment, sources said. Opposition parties have slammed the bills as violative of the Constitution.
Former Delhi HC chief justice D N Patel, who is currently serving as Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal chairman, in his presentation dwelt on the positives as well as challenges facing the 'One Nation, One Election' proposal, noting the concept is good for the nation but adding any proposed law can always be improved on.
Patel cited policy continuity, enhanced governance with a focus on long-term policies, informed voting with people in a position for better assessment of the performance of political parties and cost reductions as positives. He, however, noted "federalism concerns with potential impact on state autonomy", a risk of national issues overshadowing regional ones besides the constitutional hurdles of the need to amend some of the Articles as among the challenges facing the proposals.
He said the tenures of some of the assemblies could be extended in a step towards synchronisation of state polls with the Lok Sabha elections, an idea not part of the current bills.