Ex-CJIs flag ‘major gaps’ in ONOE bill

Former Chief Justices of India (CJIs) DY Chandrachud and JS Khehar on Friday expressed concern over some “major gaps” in the legislation that aims to usher in simultaneous national and state elections, but maintained that the proposed law did not violate the basic structure of the Constitution, people aware of the matter said.

- HT Correspondent

CJIs cautioned the PP Chaudhary-led joint parliamentary committee (JPC) - which is examining the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill - that the Election Commission (EC) was given excessive power in the proposed law, said the people cited above.

Earlier, former CJIs UU Lalit and Ranjan Gogoi, and jurist ‘Abhishek Singhvi had expressed concern over the proposed power of EC to delay polls.

The 39-member JPC — headed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Chaudhary — was set up in December 2024. Although there is no time frame for the submission of the report, the term of JPC has been extended till the first day of last week of the upcoming monsoon Session.

The proposed law on One Nation, One Election (ONOE) aims to insert a new Article — 82A — in the Constitution that says, “If the Election Commission is of the opinion that the elections to any legislative assembly cannot be conducted along with the general election to the House of the People, it may make a recommendation to the President, to declare by an order, that the election to that legislative assembly may be conducted at a later date.”