The High-Level Committee (HLC) on ‘’One Nation, One Election,” headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, submitted its report on the feasibility of conducting simultaneous polls to President Droupadi Murmu on March 14. The 18,626-page report contains 11 chapters along with annexures and has been prepared after extensive consultations with stakeholders and experts over a period of 191 days.
The panel unanimously recommended simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and State Assemblies as the first step followed by synchronised local body polls within 100 days, highlighting that such a mechanism will augment development and social cohesion and deepen the “foundations of the democratic rubric.”
Set up on September 2, 2023, the panel included Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Chairperson of the 15th Finance Commission NK Singh, former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash C Kashyap, senior advocate Harish Salve, and former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Sanjay Kothari. Union Minister of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal was a “special invitee.”
