1. Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal is expected to table the bill – the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024 – sources said. Once introduced, he will likely ask Speaker Om Birla to refer the bill to a joint committee – to be constituted based number of seats held by various parties – for wider consultation.
2. As the single largest party in the House, the BJP will chair the to-be formed committee and also get the maximum number of seats. Committee members will be announced by the day’s end. The initial term will be 90 days, but this may be extended, sources added.
3. Last week the Union Cabinet cleared two bills to amend the Constitution and allow the ruling BJP to implement its ‘one nation, one election’ proposal. The bills – and the amendments – were recommended by a panel led by former President Ram Nath Kovind, and with Home Minister Amit Shah as a member, in a report filed in September.
4. The first is an amendment linking the term of state Assemblies to that of the Lok Sabha; this means the terms of state governments elected after 2029 will end with the tenure of that Lok Sabha. So, an Assembly elected in 2031 will dissolve in 2034 and not complete its five-year term, so its next poll cycle can be synced to the 20th Lok Sabha election.
5. The second bill proposes changes to the Assemblies of three union territories – Puducherry, Delhi, and Jammu and Kashmir – to align it with states and the Lok Sabha.
6. These provisions are not expected to come into effect before the 2034 election; according to the bill, its provisions will be enforced after an ‘appointed’ date to be notified after the first sitting of a new Lok Sabha, which, in this case, is already over.
7. Once a date is set, should a legislative Assembly be dissolved ahead of scheduled, mid-term polls will be held for a new legislature to complete the previous term.
8. The Ram Nath Kovind panel believes these bills will not require ratification by the states, which would have made it difficult for the BJP, given opposition from non-party ruled states. However, proposals for a common electoral roll, or to align local body polls with those at the state or central level, will need the agreement of at least half of the states.
9. The government has said simultaneous polls will “transform the electoral process (and) governance”. A ‘one nation, one election’ system will also “prevent policy paralysis” and the “atmosphere of uncertainty” caused by frequent elections, it has argued.
10. The opposition, led by Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool and the Congress, disagree. Ms Banerjee has slammed the “anti-federal” exercise and labelled it “an authoritarian imposition designed to undermine India’s democracy and federal structure”.

Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland quit Monday in a surprise move after disagreeing with Justin Trudeau over US President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats.

Freeland also stepped down as finance minister, and her resignation marked the first open dissent against Prime Minister Trudeau from within his cabinet and may threaten his hold on power.

Liberal Party leader Trudeau lags 20 points in polls behind his main rival, Conservative Pierre Poilievre, who has tried three times since September to topple the government and force a snap election.

“Our country today faces a grave challenge,” Freeland said in her resignation letter, pointing to Trump’s planned 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports.

“For the past number of weeks, you and I have found ourselves at odds about the best path forward for Canada.”

First elected to parliament in 2013, the former journalist joined Trudeau’s cabinet two years later when the Liberals swept to power, holding key posts including trade and foreign minister, and leading free trade negotiations with the EU and the United States.

Most recently, she had been tasked with helping lead Canada’s response to moves by the incoming Trump administration.

Canada’s main trading partner is the United States, with 75 percent of its exports each year going to its southern neighbor.

In her resignation letter, Freeland said Trudeau wanted to shuffle her to another job, to which she replied: “I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from the cabinet.”

As finance minister, she explained the need to take Trump’s tariffs threats “extremely seriously.”

Warning that it could lead to a “tariff war” with the United States, she said Ottawa must keep its “fiscal powder dry.”

“That means eschewing costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford,” she said in an apparent rebuke of a recent sales tax holiday that critics said was costly and aimed at bolstering the ruling Liberals’ sagging political fortunes.

– Trouble for Trudeau –

Dalhousie University professor Lori Turnbull called Freeland’s exit “a total disaster.”

“It really shows that there is a crisis of confidence in Trudeau,” she said. “And makes it much harder for Trudeau to continue as prime minister.”

Until now, the cabinet has rallied around Trudeau as he faced pockets of dissent from backbench MPs, noted Genevieve Tellier, a professor at the University of Ottawa.

Freeland’s rejection of his economic policies poses “a big problem,” she said, and shows his team is not as united behind him as some thought.

Freeland’s departure comes on the same day she was scheduled to provide an update on the nation’s finances, amid reports the government would blow past Freeland’s deficit projections in the spring.

“This government is in shambles,” reacted Poilievre’s deputy leader, Andrew Scheer, to Freeland’s news, saying “Even she has lost confidence in Trudeau.”

Housing Minister Sean Fraser, who also announced Monday he was quitting politics, described Freeland as “professional and supportive.”

One of her closest friends and allies in cabinet, Anita Anand, told reporters: “This news has hit me really hard.”

Freeland said she would run in the next election, expected in 2025.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Former Pakistani minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain praised Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi for carrying a “Palestine” bag to Parliament, drawing criticism from the BJP, who accused her of “appeasement.” Gandhi defended her action, stating it was her choice of attire and rejecting the BJP’s patriarchal critique. This follows Gandhi’s recent display of solidarity with Palestine by wearing a keffiyeh.