The committee on ‘One Nation One Election’ led by former President Ram Nath Kovind, submit its report to President Droupadi Murmu. The report is based on recommendation for electoral simultaneity by saying that bunching the contests will save the economy and society from disruptions as a result of holding frequent elections.
The High Level Committee on Simultaneous Elections met President Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan and submit its report comprising of 18,626 pages, and is an outcome of consultations with stakeholders, experts and research work of 191 days, since its constitution on 2nd September, 2023.
The report was submit by the committee with the presence of all its members, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) chief Gulam Nabi Azad and many others.
As the High-Level Committee also convened to engage with representatives from many political parties such as BJP, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, CPI, CPI(M), AIMIM, RPI, Apna Dal, among many others.
These party representatives submit their suggestions in writing to the committee.
Also, the committee recently invite public opinion on the matter of ‘One Nation, One Election.’
A public notice was issue, stating :
"Notice for inviting suggestions from members of the general public for making appropriate changes in the existing legal administrative framework to enable simultaneous elections in the country."
In September 2023, the central government establish a high-level Committee to examine the issue of ‘One Nation, One Election’ and propose recommendations for implementing simultaneous elections nationwide.
Elections are due in some parts or another each year.
In certain states, given multiple elections to panchayats and local bodies, as many as 200-300 days in a year are consume by polls.
This move will require multiple changes from standardising of the electoral rolls to amending the laws and Constitution for which a roadmap has been provide in the recommendations submit.
One of the important aspects will be the transition path towards the switch to one election model, given that assemblies have elect at different times and synchronising fresh polls to all of them with elections to Lok Sabha will require the tenure of some being readjusted.
This process will be time-consuming as government, after analysing the report, will have to undertake legislative changes.
