One Nation, One Election | Ram Nath Kovind panel recommends single electoral roll, electoral Photo IDs; 5 key points

New Delhi, Mar 14: In a huge development, the Ram Nath Kovind-led panel on 'One Nation One Election' has recommended a single electoral roll and electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) for use in elections to all three tiers of the government. The aim of One Nation, One Election is to enhance “transparency, inclusivity, ease and confidence of voters," the panel suggested.

 

 

Notably, the Ram Nath Kovind-led panel submitted its report to President Draupadi Murmu on Thursday. It has submitted its report at a time when India's election panel body is expected to announce the schedule of the Lok Sabha election 2024.

1. The high-level committee has recommended a two-step approach for holding simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha, state assemblies and local bodies.

2. It recommended that in the first step simultaneous elections can be held for Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies. This can be followed in the second step with holding elections to Municipalities and Panchayats withn 100 days.

3. The Committee recommends that in the event of a hung House, a no-confidence motion constitutes the new House, fresh elections may be held for the remainder of the five-year term. Where fresh elections are held for the State Legislative Assemblies, then such new Legislative Assembly unless it is dissolved sooner, shall continue up to the end of the end of the term of the Lok Sabha, the committee report stated.

4. A Constitution Amendment Bill will have to be introduced in the Parliament amending Article 83 (Duration of Houses of Parliament) and Article 172 (Duration of State Legislatures). This Constitutional Amendment will not seed ratification by the States, the report said.

5. Election Commission to prepare one electoral roll, voter ID cards in consultation with state poll authorities for Lok Sabha, assembly, local body election.

 

The 18,626 pages long report is an outcome of extensive consultations with stakeholders, experts and research work over 191 days, since its constitution on September 2, 2023.

 

Apart from Kovind, the other members of this committee are Home Minister Amit Shah, former leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former finance commission chairman N K Singh, former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash Kashyap, and senior advocate Harish Salve.

 

Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was also made a member of the panel but he declined, dubbing the committee as a total eyewash. BJP MP and Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal is a special invitee to the panel.