'No excessive power to EC in ONOE Bill'

AT a meeting with the parliamentary panel on ‘One nation, one election’, the Law Commission said that the proposed power to the Election Commission that seeks to lay a legal framework to hold ‘simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies’ is not excessive.

- PREETHA NAIR @New Delhi

However, the provision of giving ‘unfettered power’ to the EC in the proposed legislation has come under criticism from various quarters.

The law panel top brass briefed the Joint Committee of Parliament examining the Bills on simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. During the briefing, members said the law panel also noted that the Constitution Amendment Bill does not require ratification by at least 50 per cent of the state assemblies to come into force.