Centre Notifies Panel On 'One Nation, One Election'; Members Include Amit Shah, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Ghulam Nabi Azad

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and Democratic Progressive Azad Party founder and former senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, will be among the members of the “One Nation, One Election” committee that will be chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind.

The committee will also include Fifteenth Finance Commission chairman NK Singh, former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash C. Kashyap, senior advocate Harish Salve and former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Sanjay Kothari, according to a law ministry notification issued on Saturday.

Role of members

Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will attend the meetings of the committee as a special invitee, while Legal Affairs Secretary Niten Chandra will be secretary to the panel.

The committee will examine and recommend specific amendments to the Constitution, the Representation of the People Act and any other laws and rules which would require amendments for the purpose of holding simultaneous elections. It will also examine and recommend, if the amendments to the Constitution would require ratification by the states.

The panel will also analyse and recommend possible solutions to scenarios such as hung House, adoption of no-confidence motions, or defection or any such other event in case of simultaneous elections.

Earlier on Friday, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said, “Right now, a committee has been constituted. A report from the committee will come out which will be discussed. The Parliament is mature and discussions will take place. There is no need to get nervous. India is called the mother of democracy. There is always an evolution.”