Ram Nath Kovind Chairs First Meeting Of 'One Nation One Election' Panel

Former President Ram Nath Kovind today chaired the first meeting of the high-level committee formed to examine the government's 'One Nation One Election' push to hold simultaneous national, state and panchayat elections across the country.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash C Kashyap, former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, and other committee members attended the meeting.

Earlier, Mr Shah and Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghawal held a meeting with Mr Kovind to decide the agenda for today's meeting.

Besides national and state elections, the committee will also look into local body elections and make recommendations to the government over the framework and time-limit within which the elections can be held.

The government had notified the eight-member committee on September 2 to examine and make recommendations for holding simultaneous elections at all levels.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had earlier declined to be part of the committee saying the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge was excluded from the panel whereas Mr Azad, a former Congress leader, was included.

Until 1967, elections used to be held simultaneously across the country and four elections were held in this manner. The practice stopped with some state assemblies being dissolved prematurely in 1968-69. The Lok Sabha too was dissolved a year ahead of its schedule in 1970 - a first in its history.

Simultaneous elections were part of the BJP's manifesto for the 2014 elections.