FCRA Amendment Bill 2026: 31-Member JPC Constituted, BJP's Sanjay Jaiswal Named Chairperson

The Lok Sabha Secretariat has constituted a 31-member Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to examine the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, with BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal appointed as its chairperson.

The committee comprises 21 Lok Sabha members and 10 Rajya Sabha members and has been asked to submit its report to the Lok Sabha by the last day of the first week of the Winter Session of Parliament.

The committee was constituted on September 3, nearly three weeks after both Houses of Parliament approved motions on August 12 to refer the Bill for detailed scrutiny. The legislation, introduced in the Lok Sabha on March 25, proposes changes to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, including tighter oversight of organisations receiving foreign contributions.

The JPC has 14 BJP members, making the party the largest group on the panel. Its Lok Sabha members are Sanjay Jaiswal, Bhartruhari Mahtab, Tejasvi Surya, Kamlesh Jangde, Mukeshkumar Chandrakaant Dalal, Nishikant Dubey, Vishnu Dayal Ram, Ananta Nayak and Arvind Dharmapuri. The BJP's Rajya Sabha members on the panel are C Sadanandan Master, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Ujjwal Deorao Nikam, Alka Gurjar and Sat Paul Sharma.

The Congress has five members: Anto Antony, Captain Viriato Fernandes, Muhammed Hamdullah Sayeed and Kali Charan Munda from the Lok Sabha, and Christopher Manickam from the Rajya Sabha.

The Trinamool Congress and DMK have two members each. TMC is represented by Kalyan Banerjee in the Lok Sabha and Menaka Guruswamy in the Rajya Sabha, while DMK members are A Raja in the Lok Sabha and P Wilson in the Rajya Sabha.

The remaining six parties have one or two representatives each. The Janata Dal (United) has two members, Kaushalendra Kumar from the Lok Sabha and Sanjay Kumar Jha from the Rajya Sabha. The Samajwadi Party is represented by Zia Ur Rehman, the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) by Supriya Sule, the Indian Union Muslim League by E T Mohammed Basheer, the Telugu Desam Party by Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, the Shiv Sena by Naresh Ganpat Mhaske and the NCP by Praful Patel.

Taken together, the committee has 19 members from the BJP-led NDA, including the BJP's 14 members and representatives of the JD(U), TDP, Shiv Sena and NCP. The remaining 12 members come from Congress, TMC, DMK, SP, NCP(SP) and IUML.

A key point of debate during the consideration of the Bill was its provision for vesting, supervision, management and disposal of assets created from foreign contributions in cases where an organisation’s FCRA registration is cancelled, surrendered or not renewed. The government has maintained that the provision seeks to ensure proper oversight and accountability of assets acquired through foreign contributions even after an organisation ceases to hold a valid FCRA registration.

Opposition parties, along with several church and civil-society organisations, have expressed concerns over the extent of executive powers proposed under the new framework.

The government, however, has rejected allegations that the Bill targets minorities, maintaining that the amendments are intended to strengthen the regulation of foreign contributions and ensure greater transparency and accountability in their use.

The referral came after Opposition parties had demanded withdrawal of the Bill, while several parties and stakeholder groups also pressed for its examination by a JPC.

Four lawyers on the committee

The JPC also includes four members with legal backgrounds. BJP's Ujjwal Deorao Nikam, a criminal lawyer, represents the ruling party, which has backed the proposed amendments.

The Trinamool Congress, which has opposed the Bill and raised objections to its provisions, is represented by Senior Advocate of Calcutta High Court Kalyan Banerjee and Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court Menaka Guruswamy.

The DMK, which has also opposed the legislation and called for greater scrutiny of its provisions, has Senior Advocate P Wilson on the panel.