New Delhi:

Former President Ram Nath Kovind today chaired the first meeting of the high-level committee formed to examine the government’s ‘One Nation One Election’ push to hold simultaneous national, state and panchayat elections across the country.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash C Kashyap, former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, and other committee members attended the meeting.

Earlier, Mr Shah and Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghawal held a meeting with Mr Kovind to decide the agenda for today’s meeting.

Besides national and state elections, the committee will also look into local body elections and make recommendations to the government over the framework and time-limit within which the elections can be held.

The government had notified the eight-member committee on September 2 to examine and make recommendations for holding simultaneous elections at all levels.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had earlier declined to be part of the committee saying the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge was excluded from the panel whereas Mr Azad, a former Congress leader, was included.

Until 1967, elections used to be held simultaneously across the country and four elections were held in this manner. The practice stopped with some state assemblies being dissolved prematurely in 1968-69. The Lok Sabha too was dissolved a year ahead of its schedule in 1970 – a first in its history.

Simultaneous elections were part of the BJP’s manifesto for the 2014 elections.

New Delhi:

The BJP has been demanding for “one nation, one election” for a long time and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also supported this call, Union Minister Anurag Thakur told NDTV today.

Mr Thakur’s comment comes a day after the government released key details of the eight-member committee, led by former President Ram Nath Kovind, to see whether elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies can be held simultaneously.

“What is the problem in holding simultaneous elections? If elections are held simultaneously, it will save time, money and the government can use the saved time to work for the poor, for the development of the nation,” Mr Thakur, the Information and Broadcasting Minister, told NDTV.

Mr Thakur dismissed the Opposition’s criticism over the government calling a special session of parliament from September 18 to 22, saying the government has every right to call such a session.

“In fact they should be happy the government has called a parliament session. It is a democratic exercise,” Mr Thakur said. He said the “one nation, one nation” committee has members of the Opposition too so that they can give their views.

“But they have left. They don’t believe in discussions. They only make noise on the streets, just make allegations and run away. Remember how many days of the monsoon session (of parliament) they had wasted?” Mr Thakur said.

He said the Opposition made similar allegations when the government was working to bring the goods and services tax (GST) regime, a kind of “one nation, one tax”.

“Earlier, collecting Rs 90,000 crore was a difficult task. Today, we collect Rs 1.60 lakh crore. This money has been used on developing infrastructure, building homes and toilets for the poor, free vaccines, new airports, new medical colleges, more AIIMS…” the Union Minister said.

The leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has declined to be part of the eight-member committee.

In a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah, who is also part of the committee, Mr Chowdhury pointed out that Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge “has been excluded” from the committee, and instead they took former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.

“This is a deliberate insult to the system of parliamentary democracy,” Mr Chowdhury said in the letter.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi today said the idea of ‘one nation, one election’ is an attack on the Indian Union and all its states.

The nine-member committee will check whether the amendments to the Constitution would need ratification by the states, according to the government’s gazette notification today.

The committee will analyse and recommend possible solutions linked to simultaneous elections if there is a hung house, no-confidence motion, defection, or any such other event.

A single electoral roll and identity card for voters valid for the national, state, civic body and panchayat elections will be explored, the government said in the notification.

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New Delhi:

The leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has declined to be part of the eight-member committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind to see whether India could hold parliamentary and state assembly elections simultaneously.

In a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah, who is also part of the committee, Mr Chowdhury pointed out that Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge “has been excluded” from the committee, and instead they took former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.

“This is a deliberate insult to the system of parliamentary democracy,” Mr Chowdhury said in the letter.

The other members of the committee are former 15th Finance Commission chairman NK Singh, former Lok Sabha Secretary General  Subhash C Kashyap, senior advocate Harish Salve, and former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Sanjay Kothari.

The committee will look into the feasibility of holding not only Lok Sabha and assembly elections simultaneously, but also elections to municipalities and panchayats, according to the gazette notification.

“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. Moreover, the sudden attempt to thrust a constitutionally suspect, pragmatically non-feasible and logistically unimplementable idea on the nation, months before the general elections, raises serious concerns about ulterior motives of the government,” the Congress leader said in the letter.

“Furthermore, I find that the current LOP in the Rajya Sabha has been excluded. This is a deliberate insult to the system of parliamentary democracy. In these circumstances, I have no option but to decline your invitation,” Mr Chowdhury said.

The nine-member committee will check whether the amendments to the Constitution would need ratification by the states, according to the government’s gazette notification today.

The committee will analyse and recommend possible solutions linked to simultaneous elections if there is a hung house, no-confidence motion, defection, or any such other event.

A single electoral roll and identity card for voters valid for the national, state, civic body and panchayat elections will be explored, the government said in the notification.

The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have spoken on the need for ‘One Nation, One Election’ on several occasions, and it was also a part of the party’s manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

New Delhi:

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday hit out at the BJP over the ‘One Nation, One Election’ move, alleging that like every other issue “sponsored by the BJP”, this seems to be “pre-determined and pre-packaged”.

His attack came after the government notified an eight-member high-level committee to examine and make recommendations at the earliest on the issue of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, state assemblies, municipalities and panchayats.

The committee will be headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind and will have Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and former finance commission chairman NK Singh as members.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr Chidambaram said, “The question of One Nation, One Election is a political-legal question. Actually, it is more political than legal. Whether the question deserves to be considered at this stage is highly debatable,” the former Union minister said.

“All major political parties are stakeholders in this issue and they have not been consulted in forming the 8 member committee. The 8-member committee has just one member from a major Opposition political party,” he said.

“Besides, I am able to recognise only one acknowledged constitutional lawyer in the committee,” Mr Chidambaram said.

Like every other “issue sponsored by the BJP”, the issue of ‘one nation, one election’ seems to be a “pre-determined and pre-packaged” issue, he alleged.

The notification said the panel will commence functioning immediately and make recommendations “at the earliest”, but did not specify a timeframe to submit the report.

The opposition alliance had slammed the decision announced on Friday to form a committee under Ram Nath Kovind as a “threat” to the country’s federal structure.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The newly formed committee to see whether India could hold parliamentary and state assembly elections simultaneously will examine and recommend specific amendments to the Constitution, the Representation of the People Act and any other relevant rules.

The nine-member committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind will also check whether the amendments to the Constitution would need ratification by the states, according to the government’s gazette notification today.

It said the committee will start work immediately and give report as soon as possible.

The other members of the committee are Home Minister Amit Shah, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, former 15th Finance Commission chairman NK Singh, former Lok Sabha Secretary General  Subhash C Kashyap, senior advocate Harish Salve, and former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Sanjay Kothari.

The Congress party will consult its allies of the newly formed Opposition bloc INDIA on this committee before deciding whether to participate in the feasibility study, sources told NDTV today.

The committee will look into the feasibility of holding not only Lok Sabha and assembly elections simultaneously, but also elections to municipalities and panchayats, according to the gazette notification.

The committee will analyse and recommend possible solutions linked to simultaneous elections if there is a hung house, no-confidence motion, defection, or any such other event.

A single electoral roll and identity card for voters valid for the national, state, civic body and panchayat elections will be explored, the government said in the notification.

The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have spoken on the need for ‘One Nation, One Election’ on several occasions, and it was also a part of the party’s manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Conducting polls simultaneously was the norm in India until 1967 and four elections were held this way. The practice stopped after some state assemblies were dissolved prematurely in 1968-69. The Lok Sabha was also, for the first time, dissolved a year ahead of schedule in 1970 and mid-term elections had been held in 1971.

In one of the first political reactions to the setting up of the committee, Communist Party of India General Secretary D Raja told NDTV that the BJP is obsessed with ‘one nation, one party’ and it has been jittery since the Opposition united under the INDIA banner.

Thiruvananthapuram:

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday criticised the BJP-led Centre’s proposal for ‘one nation, one election’, saying there is no practical way in which such a system can be implemented.

Talking to reporters here on his first visit to his Lok Sabha constituency after becoming a member of the Congress Working Committee, Shashi Tharoor said the ‘one nation, one election’ initiative of the government would be against the existing system, which is based on parliamentary democracy, where parties cannot continue in power if they lose the majority in the house.

“There is no practical way in which you can implement such a system. The second concern that many of us have is that the big diversity of India actually benefits from the staggered calendar that has evolved over the years,” Shashi Tharoor said.

Former president Ram Nath Kovind was on Friday tasked by the Centre with the responsibility of heading a committee to explore the feasibility of ‘one nation, one election’.

The committee will explore how the country can go back to having simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls, as was the case till 1967.

Shashi Tharoor said the Chief Executive of the country is selected by a parliamentary majority and a legislative majority, and the moment that majority goes, for whatever reason, the government falls.

Then a new election has to be held out of sync with the calendar.

He said that between 1947 and 1967, India had all national and state elections on the same date, but the system collapsed when the coalition government fell in 1967 and the calendar slipped.

Then the national government fell in 1970, and elections were held in 1971, he said.

“Therefore, that calendar also slipped … There’s been a number of changes, and that’s why now there are different calendars for different states. The same thing will happen again in the future,” Shashi Tharoor said.

He said the opposition would attentively listen to Ramnath Kovind’s committee on this.

“Let us see if Mr Kovind’s committee can come up with any practical solutions. We will listen attentively, but we have every reason to have a lot of scepticism about this entire initiative,” Shashi Tharoor added.

About the impromptu Parliament session called by the central government, Shashi Tharoor said no one was informed about the agenda.

In an aside, he said the central government may be thinking that it may not get a chance to function out of the new Parliament building, that’s why it called for the session. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Taking a big step forward on the ‘one nation, one election’ proposal, the Centre has set up a committee to study the issue and submit a report. The panel will be headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind.

The move comes a day after Centre had announced a special session of the Parliament from September 18 to 22. Ever since the surprise announcement was made, there has been speculation that a bill on ‘one nation, one election’ will be tabled during the session, but no one from the government has confirmed this so far. 

‘One nation, one election’ refers to holding the Lok Sabha and state assembly polls simultaneously across the country. The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have spoken on the issue on several occasions, and it was also a part of the party’s manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Conducting polls simultaneously was the norm in India until 1967 and four elections were held this way. The practice stopped after some state assemblies were dissolved prematurely in 1968-69. The Lok Sabha was also, for the first time, dissolved a year ahead of schedule in 1971 and mid-term elections had been called.