NEW DELHI: The high-level committee established by former president Ram Nath Kovind to examine the viability of simultaneous elections met here on Saturday to decide on its course of action and talk on how to hold stakeholder consultations. The eight-member “high-level” group was notified by the government on September 2 to look into the subject of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha, state assemblies, municipalities, and panchayats and to give suggestions as soon as possible. People with knowledge of the situation described the meeting as introductory in nature and said it was called to talk about the plan for carrying out the panel’s mandate. The meeting’s agenda included the creation of working papers, the process for consulting with stakeholders, and research on the topic in preparation for an in-depth discussion. The group includes the Home Minister Amit Shah, the former opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, and the former chairman of the Finance Commission N K Singh. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, was a participant. He did, however, deny Shah’s invitation to join the panel in a letter. “I am adamantly refusing to serve on the committee whose terms of reference have been crafted to ensure the accuracy of its findings. It is a complete eyewash, I’m afraid,” Chowdhury had written in the letter. The government statement stated that the panel will start working right away and offer recommendations “as soon as possible,” but it did not give a deadline for the submission of the report. The opposition group INDIA, which held its conclave in Mumbai on September 1, was taken aback by the decision to form a committee under the former president Kovind, which inflamed the political climate even more. The decision had been denounced by the opposition alliance as a “threat” to the federal government of the nation. Subhash C. Kashyap, a prominent attorney, Harish Salve, and Sanjay Kothari, a former chief vigilance commissioner, are also members of the committee. Arjun Ram Meghwal, the law minister, will be a special invitee to the committee meetings, while Niten Chandra, the law secretary, will serve as the panel’s secretary. The committee will review and make recommendations for specific revisions to the Representation of the People Act, the Constitution, and any other laws and regulations that would need to be changed in order to hold simultaneous elections.Additionally, it has been asked to “specifically suggest the phases and time-frame within which simultaneous elections may be held if they cannot be held in one go” and to suggest a framework for synchronising elections. Additionally, it will assess whether state ratification of constitutional amendments is necessary and make a recommendation. Certain Constitutional modifications must be ratified by state assembly in a majority of the states. The committee will also examine and make recommendations for potential responses to events like a hung house, the adoption of a motion of no confidence, defections, or any other similar occurrence in the case of concurrent elections. Additionally, “necessary safeguards for ensuring the continuity of the cycle of simultaneous elections” as well as “necessary amendments to the Constitution so that the cycle of simultaneous elections is not disturbed” are requested of the panel. The panel will also discuss logistics since the extensive election will require more electronic voting machines (EVMs), paper-trail machines, polling places, and security personnel. The adoption of a single electoral roll and electoral identity cards for voter identification in elections for the Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies, municipalities, and panchayats will also be examined. A shared electoral roll will help cut costs and avoid people from being deployed for work that another agency is already engaged on, according to a recent report from a legislative committee. State election commissioners (SECs) conduct local body elections, whereas the Election Commission (EC) is required to conduct parliamentary and assembly elections. According to the Constitution, the EC and the SECs are different organisations with a set mission. Elections for the Lok Sabha (543 MPs), Vidhan Sabha (4,120 MLAs), and panchayats and municipalities (30 lakh members) were initially proposed to be held concurrently.The notification noted that from 1951–1952 to 1967, when the cycle was broken, elections for the Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies were generally held at the same time. Today, elections are held nearly every year and several times within a year, requiring significant expenditures from the government and other stakeholders. Additionally, it causes the security forces and other election officials to be diverted from their main responsibilities for noticeably longer periods of time. It said that frequent polls interfere with developmental efforts because the Model Code of Conduct is applied too strictly. Kovind had recently received a briefing on the panel’s terms of reference from top law ministry officials. Following the panel’s notification, Kovind had also met with Shah and Meghwal. Their encounter with Kovind was referred to as a “courtesy call” by sources.
