Ranjan Gogoi, Harish Salve To Appear Before JPC On ‘One Nation, One Election’

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Karishma Jain

Last Updated:March 06, 2025, 15:09 IST

Former Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, and renowned advocate, Harish Salve, are scheduled to appear before the committee on 11 March and 17 March, respectively

Former Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, and renowned advocate, Harish Salve.

The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) examining the ‘One Nation, One Election’ bill is likely to hear testimonies from prominent legal figures. Former Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, and renowned advocate, Harish Salve, are scheduled to appear before the committee on 11 March and 17 March, respectively.

This follows a previous session where former Chief Justice of India, UU Lalit, provided his insights to the panel over three hours. The others who appeared before the panel included Justice (Retd) Ritu Raj Awasthi, former Law Commission chairman, and Nitin Chandra, who was also the secretary of the high-level panel chaired by former President of India Ram Nath Kovind.

The JPC will also interact with Justice Rajendra Menon, former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court and current Chairperson of the Armed Forces Tribunal, on 11 March. Justice Ajit Prakash Shah, former Chairman of the 20th Law Commission of India and former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, is scheduled for interaction on 17 March.

Justice Ranjan Gogoi has previously expressed support for progressive legal reforms, including the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). Speaking at a literature festival in Gujarat in January this year, he stated that while such legislation should be introduced, it must be done through consensus.

Prominent Members of the JPC

The JPC was announced during the last winter session of Parliament after the government said that it was keen on sending the bill for parliamentary scrutiny once its introduction happened in the Lok Sabha. Later, law minister Arjun Meghwal also read out the list of members who were part of the committee. Upon insistence by some opposition party MPs a day later, the number of members of the committee was increased and stood at 39.

The 39-member committee, chaired by former Minister and Lok Sabha MP, PP Chaudhary, includes prominent legal minds and parliamentarians from both the ruling party and the Opposition. Among the Opposition members are Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Manish Tewari, P. Wilson, Kalyan Banerjee, Supriya Sule (NCP), Randeep Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik (Congress), and Anil Desai (UBT Sena).

On the ruling side, members include former Union Minister Anurag Singh Thakur, Baijayant Panda, Bhartruhari Mahtab, Anil Baluni (BJP), Shrikant Shinde (Shiv Sena), and Harish Balauogi (TDP), among others.