NEW DELHI: At a meeting with the parliamentary panel on ‘One nation, one election’, the Law Commission said that the proposed power to the Election Commission that seeks to lay a legal framework to hold ‘simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies’ is not excessive. However, the provision of giving ‘unfettered power’ to the EC in the proposed legislation has come under criticism from various quarters.

The law panel top brass briefed the Joint Committee of Parliament examining the Bills on simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. During the briefing, members said the law panel also noted that the Constitution Amendment Bill does not require ratification by at least 50 per cent of the state assemblies to come into force.

According to sources, Opposition MPs questioned the law commission officials on the constitutionality and adherence to the federal spirit in the Bill.The law commission officials briefed the committee members but were not able to give a satisfactory answer to the questions, an opposition MP said.

Another opposition MP said during the meeting that elections at regular intervals provide a system of checks and balances, as after the Lok Sabha, the people can review their choices in the assembly elections, but this would not be there if simultaneous polls happen. The MP said that voters are the basis of democracy and elections at regular intervals strengthen democracy.