One Nation, One Election: Supreme Court says no parliamentary panel meeting with CJI, judges

The Supreme Court of India has said that no meeting will take place between its judges and the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) examining the 'One Nation, One Election' bills.

According to PTI, the JPC dropped the plan to meet top court judges after the opposition raised objections to the same.

Earlier, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal had revealed at a press conference that the JPC was scheduled to hold discussions with the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and other apex court judges on October 6.

The JPC, chaired by BJP Member of Parliament PP Chaudhary, is examining the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024. The two bills seek to put in place a framework for holding Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections together.

Sibal termed the proposed interaction unprecedented and unconstitutional. He said that a parliamentary committee briefing sitting judges on a bill, even before finalising its report, has never happened in India's history. He added that this goes against the principle of separation of powers among the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.

Parliament makes laws and the judiciary tests their validity, he pointed out. If the amendments are passed, the same judges could be called upon to decide challenges to them.

"This is a joke on the Constitution," Sibal said.

The JPC has so far held consultations with political parties, legislators, constitutional experts and other stakeholders. It disclosed that it also consulted former Chief Justices of India and retired Supreme Court judges on the constitutional implications of simultaneous elections.

Sibal's objection, however, was to an interaction with sitting judges, who could eventually sit in judgment over the constitutionality of the law.

The bills require amendments to the Constitution and have sparked debate on federalism, the tenure of legislatures, premature dissolution of Houses and the basic structure of the Constitution.