'One Nation One Election' committee meets ex-judges, politicians

NEW DELHI: The Chairman of the High-Level Committee (HLC) on 'One Nation One Election', Ram Nath Kovind, former President of India, held consultations with Justice U.U. Lalit, former Chief Justice of India; Justice Sanjib Banerjee, former Chief Justice of Madras High Court, and Manan Kumar Mishra, Chairman of the Bar Council of India.

The Government of India has constituted the committee 'One Nation, One Election' led by former president Ram Nath Kovind to examine the issue relating to holding of simultaneous elections in the country and make recommendations thereon.

The Ministry of Law and Justice said that Justice Sanjib Banerjee, Justice U.U. Lalit and Chairman of the Bar Council gave their considered opinion on the subject.

As per the Terms of Reference, the Committee is required to make recommendations for the creation of an appropriate legal and administrative framework for holding simultaneous elections on a permanent basis, identification of necessary amendments to the Constitution and related election laws, preparation of common electoral rolls, logistics such as EVMs/VVPATs, etc., official added.

Continuing his discussions with political parties, Kovind also held interactions with Deepak ‘Pandurang’ Dhavalikar, President, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Goa, official added.

One Nation One Election committee said that besides the above interactions, the fourth meeting of the HLC was held on Saturday. Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Leader of Opposition, Rajya Sabha, N. K. Singh, former Chairman, 15th Finance Commission, Dr. Subhash C. Kashyap, former Secretary General, Lok Sabha, Sanjay Kothari, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner and Shri Harish Salve, senior advocate attended the meeting.

A presentation was made before the committee based on the research paper ‘Macroeconomic Impact of Harmonizing Electoral Cycles, Evidences from India’ co-authored by N.K Singh and Prachi Mishra, which indicated that simultaneous elections would precipitate higher economic growth, and result in more government investment on expenditure on capital and revenue, an official said.

Earlier in the first week of this month the committee had issued a public notice for inviting suggestions from the general public. The committee said that this initiative was taken for making appropriate changes in the existing legal administrative framework to enable simultaneous elections in the country.