One Nation One Election Committee: Amit Shah, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Ghulam Nabi Azad among eight-member panel

Law Ministry's recent notification on Saturday announced the names of eight members who will be forming 'One Nation One Election Committee' along with former Indian President Ram Nath Kovind as the chairman.

"The Government of India constitutes a High-Level Committee (HLC) to examine the issue of simultaneous elections and make recommendations for holding simultaneous elections in the country," said the notification.

Names of Committee Members:

• Amit Shah- Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Cooperation, Government of India
• Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury- Leader of Single Largest Party in Opposition, Lok Sabha
• Ghulam Nabi Azad- Former Leader of Opposition, Rajya Sabha
• NK Singh- Former Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission
• Subhash C. Kashyap- Former Secretary General, Lok Sabha
• Harish Salve- Senior Advocate
• Sanjay Kothari- Former Chief Vigilance Commissioner

Apart from the members, Niten Chandra, Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Legal Affairs has been appointed as the secretary to the committee.

"Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India shall attend the meetings of the HLC as Special Invitee," said the notification.

This comes after the government called for a special session of Parliament for five days starting September 18.

History of 'One Nation, One Election'
The 107th report of the Law Commission in 1999 advocated putting an end to the ‘cycle of elections every year’ and said a separate election to a legislative assembly should be “an exception not the rule”. The 22nd Law Commission in its 2018 draft proposed “restoration” of simultaneous polls.

In 2015, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice backed the plan with a series of suggestions on addressing sticky points that could arise. It reported support from the AIADMK, Asom Gana Parishad, Shiromani Akali Dal, Indian Union Muslim League among others. The Indian National Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India and the All India Trinamool Congress rejected it as impractical and undemocratic.

In 2017, a Niti Aayog paper suggested a two-phase switch to simultaneous polls starting from the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. While the last general elections saw no such move, a lot of synchronisation has since happened on a common electoral roll.