Ex-CJI Sanjiv Khanna flags 'unfettered' powers to EC before ONOE panel

New Delhi | Former Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Tuesday flagged the "unfettered discretion" given to the Election Commission in the bill proposing simultaneous elections and said the proposed law's objective to reduce the frequency of polls may not always be met in practice, sources said.

Appearing before the Joint Committee of Parliament headed by BJP MP P P Chaudhary, he suggested that the bill should have adequate safeguards against the misuse of the provision under 82A(5) that allows the EC to recommend deferring a state assembly poll if, for some unforeseen reason, it cannot be held with the Lok Sabha election.

Chaudhary told reporters after the meeting that it was questioned whether the bill is against the basic structure of the Constitution. "It was largely accepted that the bill is not against the basic structure," he said.

Sources said Khanna was "balanced" in his assessment of the bill and made a host of legal points in responding to the queries of members.

In his written note to the committee earlier over what has come to be known as "one nation one election" (ONOE) concept, he had said that the constitutional validity of a proposal in no way amounts to a pronouncement upon the desirability or necessity of its provisions.

Khanna had said that arguments related to the dilution of the country's federal structure may be raised about the constitutional amendment bill, as he listed the various claims supporting and criticising the concept.

He observed that the stated intent of the bill is to reduce the frequency of elections, but it may not always materialise when legislatures are dissolved before their full term.

He, though, noted that mid-term elections are rare, a reflection of growing political stability and institutional resilience.

He also suggested that the bill should have a fixed date of implementation, instead of the current proposal, which ties it to the first sitting of the new Lok Sabha after the President gives his or her nod to the proposed law following its passage in Parliament, the sources added.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, Anurag Thakur, Sanjay Jaiswal and Sambit Patra of the BJP, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Manish Tewari and Mukul Wasnik of the Congress, G M Harish Balayogi of the TDP, DMK's P Wilson and YSR Congress' Y V Subba Reddy were among those who attended the meeting.