The Lok Sabha on Friday, December 20, adopted a resolution recommending two bills on simultaneous elections to a 39-member joint parliamentary committee (JPC), amid opposition protests over Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks related to Ambedkar.
The resolution, moved by Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, was passed by voice vote minutes before the House was adjourned. The committee will comprise 27 Lok Sabha and 12 Rajya Sabha members.
The two bills - the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill 2024 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill 2024 - were introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday after a divisive vote, with 269 members supporting and 196 opposing.
Of the Lok Sabha members, 17 are from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, including 12 from the BJP. The newly proposed Lok Sabha members include BJP's Baijayant Panda and Sanjay Jaiswal, Samajwadi Party's Chhotelal, Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Anil Desai, LJP's Shambhavi, and CPI(M)'s K Radhakrishnan. Former Union Ministers Anurag Thakur, P P Chaudhary, BJP's Bhartruhari Mahtab and Congress' Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are also among those proposed.
The 12 Rajya Sabha members named to the panel include Ghanshyam Tiwari, Bhubaneswar Kalita, K. Laxman, Kavita Patidar, Sanjay Kumar Jha, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Mukul Balkrishna Wasnik, Saket Gokhale, P. Wilson, Sanjay Singh, Manas Ranjan Mangaraj and V. Vijayasai Reddy.
Home Minister Amit Shah said Prime Minister Modi had suggested referring the bills to the JPC for detailed discussion when they were presented to the cabinet for approval. The bills seek to establish simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies across India.