The government has formed an eight-member committee, led by former President Ram Nath Kovind, to study and provide recommendations regarding the possibility of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha, state assemblies, municipalities, and panchayats. The panel includes members such as Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and N K Singh. However, Chowdhury later declined to participate, expressing concerns about the committee’s impartiality.
The committee’s mandate is to commence its work immediately and deliver its recommendations “at the earliest,” although no specific timeframe was mentioned for submitting the report. This decision, with Kovind leading the committee, caught the opposition by surprise and has intensified political tensions. The opposition alliance views this move as a potential threat to India’s federal structure. The committee comprises experts like Subhash C Kashyap, Harish Salve, and Sanjay Kothari, with Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal attending as a special invitee, and Law Secretary Niten Chandra serving as the panel’s secretary. Their task is to examine and propose necessary amendments to the Constitution, the Representation of the People Act, and other relevant laws for facilitating simultaneous elections.
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