The government notified a high-level committee under Kovind to look into and make recommendations on the issue of holding simultaneous polls.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah. (Twitter)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal would meet Ram Nath Kovind, former president and head of the panel on simultaneous polls, on the afternoon of Wednesday, 6 September, according to reports.
On Saturday, the government notified a high-level committee under Kovind to look into and make recommendations on the issue of holding synchronised polls to the Lok Sabha, state assemblies, and local bodies.
While Shah is a member, Meghwal is a special invitee of the committee to study the proposal of “One Nation One Election”.
On Sunday, top law ministry officials had briefed Kovind and had sought to know how he would like to go about the mandate of the committee.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former Opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, prominent jurist Harish Salve, former chief vigilance commissioner Sanjay Kothari, former Finance Commission chairman NK Singh, and former secretary-general of the Lok Sabha Subhash C Kashyap have been named as members of the committee.
Chowdhury, however, in a strongly worded letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, said that he will not be part of the committee.
The information about the committee members was initially “leaked” shortly after the government unexpectedly convened, on 18 September, a five-day special session of Parliament.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi emphasised that the committee’s report would be subjected to public scrutiny and discussion in the Parliament.
Leaders of the Opposition bloc, INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance), slammed the during their meeting in Mumbai on 1 September.
AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge said the BJP’s diversionary and distractionary tactics cannot betray the people anymore.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut called the Union government’s move a “conspiracy to postpone polls” to five state assemblies, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, and Telangana, this year-end.
Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu ruling DMK opposed the proposal to hold simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
After the Centre constituted the panel to explore the feasibility of “One Nation, One Rlection”, DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai said, on X, “One nation, one election is against the interests of the country.”
The Law Commission of India’s 170th report on the Reform of Electoral Laws in 1999, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice’s 79th report in December 2015, NITI Aayog’s Analysis of Simultaneous Elections in November 2017, and Law Commission of India’s Draft report on “One Nation, One Election” in August 2018, dealt with the topic of holding simultaneous elections to Parliament and state Assemblies.
The source-based inputs from the government to the media on the formation of the new committee came at a time Assembly polls are due in five states in November-December followed by the Lok Sabha elections in May-June next year.
(With PTI inputs)
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