The Parliamentary Committees have been reconstituted after the 18th Lok Sabha elections, the results of which were announced on June 4, 2024. The 24 committees constituted have 11 members of the Opposition parties as Chairpersons and 13 from the BJP-led ruling coalition. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who was removed as the chair of Committee of External Affairs in 2019, has been reappointed to the same post. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has been appointed a member of the Committee on Defence. The BJP has appointed its own MPs to key Committees including Home Affairs, Communications and IT, Defence, Railways, and Finance. 

DMK’s K Kanimozhi will chair the Committee on Food and Public Distribution and former Karnataka CM and BJP MP Basavaraj Bommai will head the committee on Labour. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey will lead the Information Technology committee of which Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra is also a member. In her previous term, Mahua was expelled from Parliament in December 2023 due to cash-for-query allegations. It was Nishikant who had accused Mahua of accepting bribes from a business rival of Adani group, Darshan Hiranandani. 

Nishikant had claimed that he had received a letter from advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai alleging that the TMC leader had taken bribes from Darshan in exchange for asking questions in the Parliament. Stating that it was a “criminal conspiracy” hatched by Mahua to “garner and protect the business interests” of Darshan, Nishikant said was “Breach of Privilege”, “Contempt of the House”, and “Criminal Offence under Section 120-A of IPC”. 

Read: Explained: The Mahua Moitra, Jai Dehadrai, Hiranandani, and Adani saga

Departmentally Related Standing Committees or DRSCs, commonly called Parliamentary Committees are constituted with members of both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and are traditionally bipartisan in nature–with members of both the ruling parties and opposition as members. They scrutinise the bills that are tabled, discussed, and passed in the two houses of the Parliament– Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha along with keeping an eye on the functioning of the related departments. The chairperson of these committees have the power to summon officials, experts, and witnesses. The Union government, however, is not bound to listen to the recommendations.

Nishikant Dubey who heads the IT committee was previously a member of the same committee and had continually attacked Shashi Tharoor demanding his resignation as the chairman from the IT standing committee in 2021 when the panel summoned global executives of giants like Facebook and Twitter to probe social media’s role in fostering religious and political polarisation. Issues such as Pegasus spyware, data privacy, internet shutdowns were also some of the issues raised by the opposition. He had said that Shashi Tharoor was acting only on his wishes and he decided the ‘Agenda’ of the sitting.

The committee members in 2024 also have some popular names. Ilaiyaraaja and Kangana Ranaut find a place in the Communication and IT panel, Sudha Murty in Transport tourism culture, PT Usha in Social Justice and Empowerment, and John Brittas in External Affairs.    

Of the 13 Chairpersons from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, alliance partners Janata Dal (United) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) would head one panel each.

Here is the full list of the 24 committee chairpersons: