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The Modi government has constituted a committee to look into the ‘One Nation, One Election’ issue and submit a report for a debate in Parliament, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Friday.
The government seeks to bring back previous electoral arrangement of holding simultaneous polls of the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies that existed till late 1960s. The BJP in its 2014 election manifesto had promised to “seek through consultation with other parties to evolve a method of holding Assembly and Lok Sabha polls simultaneously”. Giving the rationale behind it, the BJP poll document had stated that “apart from reducing election expenses for both political parties and [the] government, this will ensure continued stability for State governments”.
Debate in Parliament
According to the PTI, former President Ram Nath Kovind would head the committee on One Nation, One Election. “A committee has been formed to look into the issue. Why are Opposition parties worried, ‘One Nation, One Election’ is not going to happen tomorrow. The committee will talk and give a report which will be debated in Parliament,” Joshi told reporters in Jaipur.
Joshi also stressed that simultaneous polls of Lok Sabha and Assembly polls held in the past had lead to a good environment for development in the country. When a government is formed at the Centre and elections go on at different places, it creates a problem in the decision-making process, the Union Minister said.
However, the government till Friday did not issue any notification to announce either the committee or its members on One Nation, One Election issue. The buzz gained ground also because BJP President JP Nadda went and met Kovind but it’s not known what transpired between the two.
The decision comes a day after the Centre announced a special session of Parliament from September 18 to September 22 but the agenda is yet to be made public.
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