A day after the announcement of a special session of Parliament from September 18–22 stoked speculation of early Lok Sabha elections, combined with five state elections due later this year, the government formed a six-member panel headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind to examine the viability of 'One Nation-One Election'.
However, any movement on the One Nation-One Election proposal would be tough in view of the opposition parties’ resistance to the idea and the procedural difficulties, such as the need to pass at least five constitutional amendments, aligning parliamentary and state poll schedules, and arranging logistics like additional EVMs, funds and manpower.
The window left for the government is too short to bring about the changes required to implement the plan. An act of law during the special session seemed improbable, according to government officials, because the Kovind-led committee's mandate includes holding talks with members of various groups, including the political class.
Opposition parties slammed the BJP-led government at Centre for forming a committee to explore the possibility of bringing a legislation for ‘one nation, one election’, saying the move was a threat to the country’s federal structure and a ploy aimed at diverting people’s attention from the pressing issues that the country was facing. However, at least two former allies of BJP-BJD and SAD - welcomed the move.
Shah, 6 others nominated
The government nominated home minister Amit Shah along with six others as members of the high-level committee set up under Kovind .Other members of the committee were Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Finance Commission chairman NK Singh, leading constitutional lawyer Harish Salve, former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash C Kashyap and former chief vigilance commissioner Sanjay Kothari. But Congress leader Adhir Ranjan refused to join the panel.