Kovind invites ideas on ‘one nation, one election’

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 6

The ‘one nation, one election’ panel has invited suggestions from the public for making “appropriate changes” in the existing administrative framework to enable simultaneous elections across the country.

Synchronising polls

• The Law Commission may examine possibility of carrying out 3-tier democratic exercise in 2 phases in single year
• While LS and Assembly polls can be held in first phase, local body polls can be held in second phase, say sources
• Panel also working on synchronising all Assembly polls by extending or reducing tenure so that these polls can be held alongside the LS polls 2029 onwards, they say

A high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, in a public notice, said suggestions can be posted on the committee’s website onoe.gov.in or sent by e-mail to [email protected] and those received by January 15 would be taken up for consideration. The committee, in its very first meeting on September 23, had decided to seek views of political parties and sought an interaction with them on a “mutually agreed date” to elicit their views on synchronised polls across India. The parties had also been given an option of sending their views in writing.

It had sent letters to six national parties, 33 state parties and seven registered unrecognised parties inviting their suggestions on ‘One Nation, One Election’.

The Law Commission that has been looking into the issue of simultaneous elections may examine the possibility of carrying out the three-tier democratic exercise in two phases in a single year, sources said. While Lok Sabha and Assembly polls can be held in the first phase, local body elections can take place in the second phase, they said. Sources, however, said this was one of the options being considered by the law panel for simultaneous elections. The Law Commission had on October 25 shared its blueprint on holding simultaneous polls across India with the Kovind panel and discussed the way forward on the contentious issue.

Law Commission Chairperson Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi had made a detailed presentation before the Kovind panel and elaborated on the commission’s suggestions and viewpoints on simultaneous elections, sources said. The commission was working on a formula to synchronise all Assembly polls by extending or reducing the tenure so that these can be held alongside Lok Sabha polls 2029 onwards.

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