'One nation, one election': 2nd meeting of Kovind-led committee on Oct 25

NEW DELHI: The second meeting of the 'one nation, one election' under the chairmanship of former President Ram Nath Kovind will take place on October 25, sources said on Friday.

The first official meeting of the committee took place on September 23 during which the members decided to hold discussion and get suggestions from the stakeholders and the political parties.

The first meeting was held at the Jodhpur Hostel in the national capital, which was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, committee member and former Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad and others.

This comes after the Narendra Modi-led BJP government constituted a committee headed by former President Kovind.

Besides Kovind, Azad and Shah, the government had named Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former chairman of the 15th Finance Commission N.K Singh, former Secretary General of Lok Sabha Subhash Kashyap, Senior advocate Harish Salve and former Chief vigilance Commissioner Sanjay Kothari to the eight-member panel.

However, Chowdhury declined the invitation to be part of the committee.

The committee will look into the feasibility of holding not only Lok Sabha and Assembly elections simultaneously, but also elections to municipalities and panchayats, according to the gazette notification.

The committee will analyse and recommend possible solutions linked to simultaneous elections if there is a hung House, no-confidence motion, defection, or any such other event.

A single electoral roll and identity card for voters valid for the national, state, civic body and panchayat elections will be explored, the government had said in the notification.

The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on many occasions have made statements on the need for 'one nation, one election'.