Eight Member committee to examine One Nation One Election constituted

New Delhi: A day after the central government formed a committee headed by former president of India Ramnath Kovind to explore the possibility of one nation one election, constituted an eight member committee.

According to the notification issued by the Government, the committee besides Kovind will consist Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Choudhary, former CM Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Finance Commission Chairman NK Singh, Subhash Singh Kashyap, Harish Salve, and Sanjay Kothari.

Various political leaders have reacted to the announcement that might lead to simultaneous polls for Lok Sabha and state assemblies being held across India in the future. The Congress party felt that “Democracy was at stake.”

Congress MP Pramod Tiwari had said, “I am seeing this for the first time that a former President has been made chairman of a committee formed by govt. Former Chief Justice and former SC judges could have done it. They finished the dignity of the post of President as the inauguration (of new Parliament building) was done by the PM instead of the President. Now by doing this, they are setting a wrong tradition..."

AAP leader Jasmine Shah: "'One nation one election' is a dangerous initiative. BJP is not getting into the nuance of this law. It will render anti-defection law ineffective and will encourage poaching of MLAs and MPs."

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said before implementing ‘one nation, one election’ in the country, the BJP government should carry out an experiment by holding the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls this time.

Task before Kovind Committee on ‘One Nation One Election’

The high Level Committee on simultaneous polls under the chairmanship of Ramnath Kovind will start functioning immediately and will make recommendations at earliest. In all probability the committee may come up with its recommendations in about a month’s time if not earlier.

The Kovind panel on simultaneous polls is now tasked with the job to analyse the impact of scenarios emerging from hung House, no-confidence motion or defection.

It will also study if amendments to Constitution would require ratification by states or would be enough to pass the bill in both houses of parliament. Along with that the panel will examine recommendations for holding simultaneous polls to Lok Sabha, assemblies, municipalities and panchayats. While ex-secretary general of Lok Sabha Subhash C Kashyap has been appointed in the committee on simultaneous polls, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will be the special invitee.