Former CJI Ranjan Gogoi took a stand against the government, said- so much power is not right
Former Chief Justice of the country Justice Ranjan Gogoi has taken a stand against the central government on an important issue. Due to this, everyone’s eyes have now turned towards the former CJI. This opinion of Rajya Sabha MP Gogoi is against the stand of Prime Minister Modi’s government to conduct One Nation One Election in the country. Actually, Justice Gogoi has given this opinion before the law is made regarding One Nation One Election. The bill related to this proposed law is with the Joint Parliamentary Committee of Parliament. In the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee held regarding this, Ranjan Gogoi has given his opinion, which is different from the stand of the government.
Justice Gogoi said that the Election Commission cannot be given uncontrolled powers to decide the tenure of the Legislative Assembly of a state. Gogoi pointed out the flaws in the bill on simultaneous elections in a three-hour discussion with the Joint Committee of Parliament on Tuesday. He warned that it would not be appropriate to give uncontrolled powers to the Election Commission (EC) to decide the schedule.
Questions on the powers of the Election Commission
According to the report of English newspaper The Hindu, the Parliamentary Joint Committee headed by BJP MP PP Choudhary is reviewing the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 17, 2024. This bill seeks to give the Election Commission the power to conduct simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and all state assemblies.
According to sources, DMK Rajya Sabha member P. Wilson said that Section 82A (5) of the new bill states that if the EC is of the opinion that elections to an assembly cannot be held along with the general election to the Lok Sabha, it can recommend to the President that elections to that assembly be held later. By not specifying a time limit for the Election Commission, is this law not giving it arbitrary and uncontrolled powers. Justice Gogoi accepted this argument and said that this would not be fair and this section needs to be amended so that the loopholes can be removed and it is not legally sustainable. He said that the EC cannot be given uncontrolled powers to extend or reduce the term of the state assembly.
Manish Tewari gave the example of Punjab
During the discussion, Congress MP Manish Tewari also gave the example of the 1991 general elections, when the then Prime Minister Chandrashekhar had postponed the general elections in the state citing the law and order situation in Punjab. Elections for the Lok Sabha seats of Punjab were held along with the assembly elections in 1992. The Election Commission does not have the machinery to take such decisions unlike the Central government. In the last meeting, former Chief Justice of India UU Lalit had also pointed out several flaws in the bill and said that it cannot withstand a legal challenge.
Meanwhile, the panel has decided to launch a website to seek the opinion of the general public on the bill. The move comes after the opposition claimed that 80% of the responses received on the bill were in favour of simultaneous elections, as submitted by a high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind. The parliamentary panel has asked the Kovind committee to submit all the responses.
