Priyanka Gandhi From Congress Likely To Be In Par panel On Simultaneous Polls

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Manish Tewari are set to be among the Congress representatives in the parliamentary panel that will scrutinise the two bills proposing simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls, while Kalyan Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress and P Wilson of the DMK are also expected to be its members, sources said.

The BJP, which will have maximum representatives in the joint committee of Parliament, remained tight-lipped about its choices amid a buzz that its seasoned MPs Ravi Shankar Prasad and Anurag Thakur are being considered for the job.

Among the BJP's allies, Shrikant Shinde of the Shiv Sena and Sanjay Jha of the JD(U) may be members of the key panel which is expected to have 21 MPs from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha, the sources said.

Most of the parties have conveyed their choices to the government which will move a motion in Lok Sabha to send the bills to the joint committee. The Speaker will take a final call on the names for the panel and its chairperson.

Sukhdeo Bhagat and Randeep Surjewala are the Congress' other choices for the joint committee of Parliament. Saket Gokhale of the TMC and T M Selvaganapathi of the DMK are also expected to be part of the panel.

The sources said P P Chaudhary is also being considered as the probable BJP choice for the panel in which the saffron party and its allies will be in a majority due to their numerical superiority in Parliament.

While Prasad, a well known lawyer, has held the portfolio of law minister in the previous Modi government, Chaudhary was a deputy minister in the crucial ministry. From the Telugu Desam Party, the BJP's biggest ally, either Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu or G M Harish Balayogi is likely to be in the panel.

The two 'one nation, one election' (ONOE) bills, including one requiring an amendment in the Constitution, lay down the mechanism to hold simultaneous elections and were introduced in Lok Sabha on Tuesday after a fiery debate.

Opposition parties dubbed the draft laws -- a Constitution amendment bill and an ordinary bill -- as an attack on the federal structure, a charge rejected by the government.

Speaking to reporters on the Parliament premises, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi had termed the bills "anti-constitutional". "It is against the federalism of our nation. We are opposing the bill," she had said.

The BJP and its allies such as the TDP, JD(U) and Shiv Sena have stoutly defended the bills, saying frequent elections are an obstruction to development programmes and simultaneous polls will boost them by cutting down on election expenditure.