As the high-level committee on simultaneous elections constituted under the Chairmanship of former President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday met President Droupadi Murmu and submitted its report, Union Home Minister Amit Shah called it a “historic day for the country’s democratic system.”
“It is a historic day for the country’s democratic system. Today, the High-Level Committee formed by the Modi government on One Nation One Election, chaired by Shri @ramnathkovind Ji, presented its report before the Hon’ble President,” the Home Minister posted on his ‘X’ handle.
The report, comprising 18,626 pages, is an outcome of extensive consultations with stakeholders, experts and research work of 191 days, since the constitution of the High-Level Committee on September 2, 2023.
Shah was among the other members of the Committee that included Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha; N K Singh, former Chairman, 15th Finance Commission; Subhash C Kashyap, former Secretary General, Lok Sabha; Harish Salve, Senior Advocate; and Sanjay Kothari, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner. Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Law and Justice was a Special Invitee and Niten Chandra was the Secretary of the Committee.
The committee held extensive consultations to understand the views of different stakeholders. 47 political parties submitted their views and suggestions, out of which 32 supported simultaneous elections. Many political parties had extensive discussions with the committee on this matter.
In response to a public notice published in newspapers in all the States and Union territories, 21,558 responses were received from citizens from all over India. Of them, 80 per cent of the respondents supported simultaneous elections.
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