New Delhi: Amid uproar over Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks about BR Ambedkar, the Lok Sabha on Friday referred the two bills for simultaneous voting to a joint committee of Parliament.
When the House met that day, opposition members raised “Harlem Ambedkar” slogans and lashed out at Shah.
Speaker Om Birla did not participate in the question hour and asked Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal to move the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Central Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2024 to a joint committee of Parliament , including: 27 members from the House of People and 12 from the House of Federation.
The resolution was passed by voice vote amid raucous scenes.
Subsequently, the Lok Sabha adjourned indefinitely, ending the winter session that began on November 25.
Two “One Nation, One Election” (ONOE) bills, one of which calls for amending the constitution to provide for a mechanism to hold simultaneous elections, were introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday after intense debate.
Sources said on Thursday that BJP MP Bhartruhari Mahtab is being considered to chair a joint parliamentary committee that will examine two bills proposing to hold simultaneous elections.
With the BJP set to get the key group chairman’s post, official sources said Mahtab’s parliamentary experience may prove to be in his favour.
The size of the committee was increased from 31 to 39 MPs, providing representation for more political parties.
While the panel already includes BJP’s PP Chaudhury and Anurag Thakur, Congress’s Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is another important member of the committee.
Among the Lok Sabha members, 17 are from the National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, and 12 of them are from the Bharatiya Janata Party.