Introductory meet of panel on simultaneous polls on Saturday
Kovind for simultaneous elections will be held here on Saturday to discuss the roadmap and how to go about holding consultation with stakeholders. Kovind had recently told reporters in Odisha that the meeting will be held on September 23.
The government had on September 2 notified the eight-member «high-level» panel to examine and make recommendations at the earliest on the issue of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, state assemblies, municipalities and panchayats.
People aware of the details said the meeting will be «introductory» in nature and members will discuss the roadmap on how to go about the mandate given to the panel.
The panel, they said, will also discuss on how to go about holding consultations with stakeholders, research on the subject and preparation of working papers.
Home Minister Amit Shah, former leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and former finance commission chairman N K Singh are among the committee's members.
Congress' leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was also a member.
However, in a letter to Home Minister Shah, he declined to be part of the panel.
«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,» Chowdhury had said in the letter.
The government notification said the panel will commence functioning immediately and make recommendations «at the earliest», but did not specify a time-frame to submit the report.
The decision to have a committee under former president Kovind had caught opposition bloc INDIA, holding their conclave in Mumbai on September 1, by surprise and further raised the political heat.
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