Overview
- Lawmakers approved a motion by chair P. P. Chaudhary to extend the panel’s tenure until the first day of the last week of the 2026 Budget Session.
- The committee is scrutinizing the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which are intended to enable simultaneous national and state elections.
- Chaudhary said the report will take time because the panel must hear many stakeholders, and he described the proceedings as constructive across parties.
- Senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal appeared before the panel and, as reported, opposed synchronized polls on basic-structure and federalism grounds, with meeting details remaining confidential.
- The panel continues expert consultations and will meet next on December 17, while the 23rd Law Commission has said the proposal does not violate the Constitution’s basic structure.