New Delhi, December 18
Congress’s Priyanka Gandhi and Manish Tiwari will join the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to study the two constitutional amendment bills related to holding elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies simultaneously. Sources said that Trinamool Congress’s Kalyan Banerjee and DMK’s P. Wilson is also expected to be inducted as a member. However, the BJP, which will have the largest number of members in the JPC, has kept quiet about the members. According to sources, the party is considering the names of its experienced leaders Ravishankar Prasad and Anurag Thakur. Another important partner of BJP, Shrikant Shinde of Shiv Sena and Sanjay Jha of JDU may also be members of the joint parliamentary committee.
According to sources, the JPC will have 21 members (MPs) from the Lok Sabha and 10 members from the Rajya Sabha. Most of the parties have given their names for the JPC. The government will soon move a resolution in the Lok Sabha to refer the above two bills to a joint parliamentary committee. Sukhdev Bhagat and Randeep Surjewala are the Congress’s other options for the Joint Committee of Parliament. TMC’s Saket Gokhale and DMK’s TM Selvaganapathy are also expected to be part of the panel. -News-Patiala