JPC meeting on Waqf Bill final draft adopted: The Joint Committee of Parliament examining the Waqf (Amendment) Bill has accepted its draft report and revised version on Wednesday. Know with how many amendments the Waqf Amendment Bill was approved, how many votes were cast in favour and opposition.

Waqf Amendment Bill: The JPC meeting on the Waqf Amendment Bill has ended. The JPC accepted it by 14 votes against 11. Along with this, the opposition members have been asked to give a note of dissent by 4 pm on Wednesday evening. Earlier on Monday, the JPC approved the Waqf Amendment Bill with 14 amendments proposed by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) members. The opposition MPs had presented 44 changes which were rejected and this caused an uproar among the political parties.

On Monday, the Waqf Amendment

Bill, which seeks to reform the way Waqf boards are administered across the country, was approved by the JPC by a margin of 16:10 (16 from the NDA and 10 from the opposition parties). According to reports, a total of 66 amendments were proposed in the Waqf Bill, including 23 by the ruling BJP MPs and 44 by the opposition members. JPC chairman and BJP MP Jagdambika Pal, while talking to reporters on Monday, said that this was the final meeting of the parliamentary panel and a total of 14 amendments were approved on the basis of majority.

Wakf amendment meeting held for six months

He told reporters, "In the last six months of deliberations, we discussed several amendments. All the amendments were put to vote and the members gave their verdict, in which 16 voted in favour while 14 opposed the amendments." The opposition had accused the chairman of the committee of bias and inclination towards the ruling party.

Opposition expressed protest

The opposition also claimed that the process of Wakf was being hurried ahead of the assembly elections in the national capital. On Monday, 11 opposition MPs who were part of the JPC had targeted the 'autocratic' behavior of Chairman Jagdambika Pal and his haste in accepting the 14 amendments proposed by the NDA members. In a joint statement, the opposition MPs said, "The committee has reached the final stage of deliberations. We, the members of the opposition, register our protest on the conduct of the proceedings of the JPC and the rules and procedures involved in it."

What was the Waqf (Amendment) Bill?

It is worth noting that the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and it was referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on 8 August 2024. The purpose of this bill is to amend the Waqf Act enacted in 1995 to resolve the problems related to the management and regulation of Waqf properties.