NEW DELHI: Deposing before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) examining the ‘One nation One election’ Bill, former Delhi High Court chief justice A P Shah on Monday submitted a 12 page note asserting that the proposed legislation is unconstitutional, violative of democratic principles and the federal structure, according to sources.
Meanwhile, senior advocate Harish Salve who appeared before the panel argued that the proposed law meets the constitutional requirements
The sources said Shah, a former law commission chairman, faulted the bill on several counts, including the power given to the Election Commission to recommend postponing state assembly polls.
Salve, however, rejected the arguments that the one-nation-one-election (ONOE) bills fly in the face of the Constitution’s basic structure and federal principles. Responding to a query by DMK MP P Wilson, Salve admitted that the ONOE is a conditional legislation, according to sources.
He said the bills do not curb people’s voting rights, adding that the constitutional amendments proposed by one of the proposed laws are very much within the bounds of the Constitution, the sources said.
Both Salve and Shah took questions from the members of the committee headed by BJP MP P P Chaudhary separately in a nearly five-hour sitting.
Chaudhary described the meeting as “positive”, noting that members had a chance to ask questions and seek clarifications from them. While Salve took around three hours, Shah’s session lasted for two hours, he added.
Salve was also one of the members of the high-level committee headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind that recommended simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly elections. Shah was among the legal experts whose views were sought by the committee as well, and he is believed to have expressed his disapproval of the ONOE proposal.
Shah told the committee that assembly elections should be held for a full five-year term, said sources. The bill proposes that once the law for simultaneous elections is notified, then polls for all state assemblies will be held along with the next parliamentary election irrespective of the length of their remaining terms.
He did not support the view that the simultaneous polls would lead to the saving of large amounts of public money, the sources said. When asked about the alternative to the proposals of the bills, Shah said he would be sharing his views with the committee later.