One Nation, One Election: 8-member panel to review feasibility of holding simultaneous polls

The 'One Nation, One Election' proposal aims at holding general and state elections simultaneously.

The Union government on September 2 issued a formal notification for the committee on 'One Nation, One Election' under the chairmanship of former President Ram Nath Kovind.

An eight-member panel has been constituted by the Government of India, which will be headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, to explore the feasibility of the 'One Nation, One Election' proposal. It aims at holding general and state elections simultaneously.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Ghulam Nabi Azad, jurist Harish Salve, ex-CVC Sanjay Kothari, ex-chairman of Finance Commission NK Singh and former secretary general of Lok Sabha Subhash C Kashyap have been appointed are other members of the committee.

Also read: One Nation, One Election: Meaning, Benefits and Challenges

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi has said that the proposal will be discussed in Parliament and in the public domain after the committee submits its report.

He tweeted: “India is the mother of democracy and our democracy is a mature democracy. There has been a long and rich tradition of discussing subjects related to the interests of the country. Right now, only a committee has been constituted to discuss the topic of ‘One nation, One election’ and to know the opinion of the people. The agenda for the upcoming special session of Parliament will be shared with the nation soon.”

Meanwhile, the government has called a special session of Parliament between September 18 and 22. It is speculated that a bill proposing ‘One Nation, One Election’ will be tabled during this session.

The development comes ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Also read: Political leaders divided over 'One Nation, One Election'; here is how they react

Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pushing the idea of simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls for a while.

Holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies would need at least five constitutional amendments and a large number of additional EVMs and paper-trail machines costing "thousands of crores of rupees", but will yield a huge long-term saving to the public exchequer, news agency PTI had quoted government officials as saying.