Sources made the 'selective leak' a day after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi announced a special session of Parliament from 18 September.
Committee on 'One Nation, One Election' ahead of parliament special session. (Wikimedia)
The Union government has formed a committee to explore the possibility of “One Nation, One Election” plan.
Government sources told reporters that former President Ram Nath Kovind would head the committee. The information was “leaked” to the media a day after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi announced a special session of Parliament between 18 and 22 September without revealing the agenda.
On Friday morning Pralhad Joshi confirmed the constitution of a committee. “We have only formed a committee currently. There is no need to panic. The committee will give a report and the report will be discussed in public domain. It will be discussed in the parliament too. We have a sound democracy,” Joshi told reporters on Friday late morning.
Incidentally, this is not the first time that a committee has been asked to look into the possibility of “One Nation, One Election”, a move that the BJP has been strongly advocating.
The Law Commission of India’s 170th report on the Reform of Electoral Laws in 1999, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law & 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.
The announcement of the special session of Parliament coincided with prominent global financial newspapers publishing an investigative report by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) against Gautam Adani’s company.
Citing a review of files from multiple tax havens and internal Adani Group emails, OCCRP said its investigation found at least two cases where “mysterious” investors bought and sold Adani stock through such offshore structures.
The two men, Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling, who the OCCRP claimed have longtime business ties with the Adani family and have also served as directors and shareholders in Group companies and firms associated with Gautam Adani’s elder brother Vinod Adani, “spent years buying and selling Adani stock through offshore structures that obscured their involvement—and made considerable profits in the process.”
The documents “show that the management company in charge of their investments paid a Vinod Adani company to advise them in their investment”, it alleged. The Adani company has refuted all charges, deeming the “recycled allegations”.
The government leaks on a committee for “One Nation, One Election” comes on the day the Opposition bloc, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is holding its third meeting in Maharashtra.
(With PTI inputs)
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