Committee Formed On 'One Country One Election' After Announcement Of Special Session Of Parliament; Will LS And Assembly Elections Be Held Simultaneously?

The Central Government has called a special session of Parliament for five days from 18 to 22 September.

Meanwhile, the Modi government has constituted a committee under the chairmanship of former President Ram Nath Kovind to explore the possibility of 'one country one election'.

One Nation One Election simply means that all the elections in the country should be conducted simultaneously. PM Narendra Modi has already advocated One Nation One Election on many occasions including in Parliament. He had also appealed to all political parties to come together on this formula. At that time Modi said simultaneous elections would result in huge saving of money and manpower.

Former Prez Kovind has also supported simultaneous polls

After becoming the President in the year 2017, Kovind also supported the holding of Lok Sabha-Assembly elections together, showing his agreement with Modi's views.

Addressing the Parliament in the year 2018, Kovind had said, "The rotation of elections not only increases the burden on human resources, but the process of development is also hampered by the implementation of the code of conduct."

Now that the second term of the Modi government is nearing its end, there is a consensus among its top leadership that now they cannot prolong this issue. And after debating it for years, there is a need to move forward decisively.

Speculations have started in political circles

Now, ever since the special session of the Parliament has been convened, speculations have started in the political circles. It is being said that the Modi government may introduce the bill during the 5-day session. However, nothing has been officially said by the Central Government regarding the agenda of the special session of the Parliament.

Singh Deo welcomes 

A Congress veteran has welcomed this decision of the Central Government. He is Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo. Singh Deo says that he personally welcomes it.

The special thing is that the statement of the Congress leader has come at such a time when many big leaders of the opposition are targeting the central government on this issue. Shiv Sena Uddhav faction's Anil Desai said that he is getting information through the media. It is not right to spread such things. There are elections in five states in the coming time. The government should see what the people of the country want. The opinion of the people of the country should also be kept in mind. 

Huge long-term saving to public exchequer

The biggest argument being given in support of one country one election is that it can save crores of rupees spent in different elections. 

Meanwhile, experts say holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies would need at least five constitutional amendments and a large number of additional EVMs and paper-trail machines costing thousands of crores of rupees, but would yield a huge long-term saving to the public exchequer.