The high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind on simultaneous polls is likely to submit its report on ‘one nation, one election’ today to President Droupadi Murmu, news agency PTI has reported.
Currently, there is no official announcement on this yet, however, PTI has reported that the panel may recommend amending at last five articles of the Constitution to enable holding of simultaneous polls in the country. The proposed report would also focus on having a singular electoral roll for holding Lok Sabha, state assembly and local body polls.
In September 2023, a report by news agency ANI citing people familiar with the development said that the law commission aims to synchronize and thereby implement the one nation one election provision for India’s election process by 2029 Lok Sabha Elections.
The committee that was sept up in September last year was tasked with examining and recommending simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha, state assemblies, municipalities, and panchayats, keeping in view the existing constitutional framework.
Apart from Kovind, the panel also has members including Home Minister Amit Shah, former leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former finance commission chairman N K Singh, former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash Kashyap and senior advocate Harish Salve. Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was also made a member of the panel but he declined to be part of the panel which was mandated by the law commission to recommend ways to implement simultaneous elections in the country. “I have no hesitation whatsoever in declining to serve on the committee whose terms of reference have been prepared in a manner to guarantee its conclusions. It is, I am afraid, a total eyewash,” Adhir had said in a letter Union home minister Amit Shah.
Meanwhile, this is not a new concept for the country. India had simultaneously held Lok Sabha and Assembly elections prior to 1967 — in 1951-52, 1957, 1962 and 1967. But they were stopped when some state Assemblies and Lok Sabha were dissolved ahead of their conclusions.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI)
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Published: 14 Mar 2024, 07:20 AM IST