NEW DELHI: Former President Ram Nath Kovind-led high-level committee set up to study the issue of simultaneous national and state elections submitted its exhaustive report to President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. Other panel members including Union home minister Amit Shah, former leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, 15th finance commission chairperson NK Singh, and former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash C. Kashyap were also present. The panel submitted the report, comprising 18,626 pages, to President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan, a statement said. The report is an outcome of extensive consultations with stakeholders, experts and research work of 191 days, since its constitution on September 2, 2023, it added. The panel has suggested holding simultaneous polls in 2029 and discussing “procedural and logistical” issues related to this. The panel also recommended holding simultaneous polls to Lok Sabha and assemblies first, followed by local body polls within 100 days in the second step, reported . For the first simultaneous polls, the tenure of all state assemblies can be for a period ending up to subsequent Lok Sabha elections, according to the report. In case of a hung House or no-confidence motion, fresh polls can be held for the remainder of the five-year term, it added. The report includes a paper by NK Singh and International Monetary Fund’s Prachi Mishra on the economic viability of simultaneous polls, a committee member on the condition of anonymity. The committee has been conducting consultations with political parties, constitutional experts, former chief election commissioners, the election commission and other relevant stakeholders to solicit their views and gather insights on the matter.
