Ram Nath Kovind-led panel on ‘One nation, One election’ submits report to President

March 14, 2024 11:46 am | Updated 11:58 am IST

The high-level committee on ‘’one nation one election”, headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, submitted its report on simultaneous polls to President Droupadi Murmu on March 14. The committee met the Honourable President of India at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The Report comprises of 18,626 pages, and has been prepared after extensive consultations with stakeholders, experts and research work of 191 days.

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The Kovind panel includes Home Minister Amit Shah, former leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Finance Commission chairman N.K. Singh, former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash Kashyap and senior advocate Harish Salve. The Committee was constituted on 2 September, 2023 and was mandated to examine and make recommendations with regard to holding simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha, State Assemblies, municipalities and panchayats.

Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal is a special invitee to the panel.

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Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury opted out of the panel after stating that the entire exercise was an “eye wash” since the panel was in favour of recommending simultaneous polls even before the start of the consultation process.

The 22nd Law Commission, that has examined the issue in detail, had also suggested holding simultaneous polls from the general election of 2029. The Law Commission, that has already submitted its views to the Kovind panel, is also likely to submit its final report to the Law Ministry soon.

(with inputs from PTI)