Could special Parliament session see introduction of 'One Nation, One Election' Bill?

With the BJP government calling for a special session of the Parliament in September, speculation is rife about the purpose of the sitting. According to reports, most of the speculation has centred on the upcoming elections, with some expecting a 'One nation, one election' move from the Centre, while others predict a poll preponement.

On Thursday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, announced the call for a five-day special session of Parliament. Joshi posted on the social media site X, formerly Twitter, that the session would begin September 18 and run through to September 22.

"Special Session of Parliament (13th Session of 17th Lok Sabha and 261st Session of Rajya Sabha) is being called from 18th to 22nd September having 5 sittings. Amid Amrit Kaal looking forward to have fruitful discussions and debate in Parliament," said Joshi in the post.


One nation, one election?

Speculation about new legislation, namely the 'One Nationa, One Election' Bill, has been making the rounds. This, as the name suggests, means simultaneous state and general elections. Turning the Bill into reality would need a constitutional amendment for which lawmakers need to meet in a parliament session.

While not a new idea, the simultaneous election idea would need incredible logistics due to the sheer size of the vote bank in the country.

The likelihood of this happening has increase with reports surfacing that the Centre has formed a committee to explore the feasibility of the move.

Early polls?

The other likely item on the agenda, according to reports, is the? dissolution of the current Parliament ans immediate Lok Sabha elections. However, this could be easily achieved by a Cabinet decision and does not require the Parliament to be in attendance.

According to ANI, the government is eyeing a special session in an attempt to pitch the idea to the public, while also putting forth its achievements in the past five years.

Amrit Kaal agenda?

The other line of speculation has been that this session could just be a way for the BJP to extoll its virtues and recent achievements, including the G20 Summit and the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission in August. Reports suggest that this could be the most likely outcome, as the Narendra Modi goverment looks to shore up its votes ahead of the elections in 2024 and the five state elections set for later this year.

With inputs from ANI