GST:Voting Power And The Members Of Council

The GST Council is the body that oversees the implementation of Goods and Services Tax in India, made up of representatives from both the central and state governments.

It has a total of 33 members, including those from the Central Government and various State Governments.

Here’s the list of members:

1)The Finance Minister of the Union (Chairperson)

2)The Union Minister of State responsible for Revenue or Finance.

3)The Minister responsible for Finance or Taxation, or any other Minister appointed by each State Government.

4)Any individual appointed by the Governor of the State during a state of emergency declared under Article 356 of the Constitution of India.

A meeting of the Council is properly formed when the Chairperson leads it, with at least half of the Council Members in attendance.

33 Members Of The GST Council:

Chairperson: Nirmala Sitharaman

Union Minister of State (Finance): Pankaj Chaudhary

Members from the States:

1)Andhra Pradesh: Payyavula Keshav

2)Arunachal Pradesh: Chowna Mein

3)Assam: Ajanta Neog

4)Bihar: Samrat Chaudhary

5)Chhattisgarh: O.P. Choudhary

6)Delhi: Rekha Gupta

7)Goa: Pramod Sawant

8)Gujarat: Kanubhai Desai

9)Haryana: J.P Dalal

10)Himachal Pradesh: Harshvardhan Chauhan

11)UT of Jammu & Kashmir: Omar Abdullah

12)Jharkhand: Rameshwar Oraon

13)Karnataka: Krishna Byre Gowda

14)Kerala: K.N. Balagopal

15)Madhya Pradesh: Jagdish Devda

16)Maharashtra: Ajit Pawar

17)Manipur: Sapam Ranjan Singh

18)Meghalaya: Conrad Sangma

19)Mizoram: Lalduhawma

20)Nagaland: K.G. Kenye

21) Odisha: Mohan Charan Majhi

22)Puducherry: K. Lakshminarayanan

23)Punjab: Harpal Singh Cheema

24)Rajasthan: Gajendra Singh

25) Sikkim: B.S. Panth

26)Tamil Nadu: Thangam Thennarasu

27)Telangana: Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu

28)Tripura: Pranjit Singha Roy

29)Uttarakhand: Prem Chand Agarwal

30) Uttar Pradesh: Suresh Kumar Khanna

31)West Bengal: Chandrima Bhattacharya

Voting Process

The GST Council makes decisions based on a consensus approach during its meetings. When a proposal is voted on, the Central Government accounts for one-third of the total votes in the GST Council meeting.

The combined votes of all State Governments represent two-thirds of the total votes cast.

A decision is only made if the total weighted votes from Members present and voting in favor of the proposal reach or exceed three-fourths.

So far, there have been 55 meetings of the GST Council, and its decisions have greatly influenced the implementation of GST in India.

According to the guidelines, the Council is required to meet at least once every quarter.

The 56th GST Council is convening in New Delhi for two days starting September 3 (Wednesday) to talk about the proposed rate adjustments.

During this session, the GST Council is likely to review the recommendations from various Groups of Ministers it has formed, including the potential reform of the GST system into a two rate structure as suggested by the Central Government.

DISCLAIMER: This article is derived from information available in the public domain.