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One Nation One Election: Lone Panel Member From Opposition Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Quits

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One Nation One Election: Lone Panel Member From Opposition Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Quits

One Nation One Election: Lone Opp Panel Member Withdraws

Shortly after the central government has formed an eight-member high-level committee to examine “One Nation One Election” scheme, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the lone Opposition member in the panel, declined to be a part of it.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is a Congress Member of Parliament from West Bengal”s Berhampore and is the current leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.

The ONOE major panel, headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, was notified on Saturday. The panel will explore the possibility of the newly introduced concept of simultaneous elections, and is supposed to submit a report accordingly.

As per the proposal, elections for the Lok Sabha and all state assemblies across the country will be held simultaneously, with voting presumably taking place around the same time. Currently, elections to the state assemblies and the Lok Sabha are held separately. They are held after the five-year term of the incumbent government ends or if it is dissolved due to various reasons.

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In a letter written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday, Mr Chowdhury called the formation of the committee a “total eyewash”, says reports.

“I have no hesitation whatsoever in declining to serve on the Committee whose terms of reference have been prepared in a manner to guarantee its conclusions. It is, I am afraid, a total eyewash,” MP said in the letter.

“Moreover, the sudden attempt to thrust a constitutionally suspect, pragmatically non-feasible and logistically unimplementable idea on the nation, months before the general elections, raises serious concerns about ulterior motives of the government”, the letter says.

“Furthermore, I find that the current LOP in the Rajya Sabha has been excluded. This is a deliberate insult to the system of Parliamentary democracy. In these circumstances, I have no option but to decline your invitation,” he added.


The resolution, dated September 2 and issued by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, stated that as “in the national interest it is desirable to have simultaneous elections in the country, the Government of India hereby constitutes a High-Level Committee (HLC) to examine the issue of simultaneous elections and make recommendations for holding simultaneous elections in the country.”

The panel constituted by the ministry includes the following people as its members,

  1. Ram Nath Kovind, former President of India
  2. Amit Shah, Union Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation
  3. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha (now withdraws)
  4. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Former Leader of Opposition, Rajya Sabha
  5. N K Singh, Former Chairman of 15th Finance Commission
  6. Dr Subhash C Kashyap, Former Secretary General of Lok Sabha
  7. Harish Salve, Senior Advocate
  8. Sanjay Kothari, Former Chief Vigilance Commissioner

“We believe that the High Level Committee on Simultaneous Elections is nothing but a systematic attempt to sabotage India”s parliamentary democracy. In a shocking insult to Parliament, the BJP has appointed a former LOP to the Committee instead of Rajya Sabha LOP Sh. Mallikarjun Kharge”, wrote MP and Indian National Congress” General Secretary K C Venugopal criticising the move on X (formerly Twitter). 

According to him, ONOE is a BJP “gimmick to distract from the Adani Mega Scam, unemployment, price rise and other pressing issues of the people”.

Topics
BJP Congress One-Election One-Nation ONOE Rahul Gandhi Timeline Breaking

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