The government has formed an eight-member high level committee to explore the possibility of conducting simultaneous polls across the country and suggest changes to the Constitution for the same. A government notification issued on Saturday said the panel will be headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind.
Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and former MP Ghulam Nabi Azad are members of the committee. Jurist Harish Salve, former CVC Sanjay Kothari and ex-chairman of finance commission N.K. Singh, former secretary general of Lok Sabha Subhash C. Kashyap are the other members of the panel.
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will attend the meetings of the committee a special invitee. However, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury refused to be in the panel. As per the official notification, the panel will examine the possibilities of and make recommendations for holding simultaneous polls to Lok Sabha, state assemblies, municipalities and panchayats.
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.
The panel will study if any amendments to the Constitution would require ratification by the states and will also analyse the impact of scenarios emerging from hung House, no-confidence motion or defection.
The high level committee will start functioning immediately and make recommendations at earliest, the notification said. The government has already called a special session of Parliament between September 18 and 22, though the agenda for which is under wraps.
