The BJP-led NDA government took a decisive step towards fulfilling one of its key poll promises, when the Union Cabinet cleared the 'One Nation, One Election' proposal today.
The high-level committee set up to study simultaneous parliamentary, assembly and local bodies polls, headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind, had submitted its report in March this year, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. It was placed before the Union Cabinet on Wednesday.
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The move comes soon after the completion of 100 days of the NDA 3.0 government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pushed for a single election in his Independence Day address last month.
The panel, which was set up in September 2023, consulted stakeholders and experts, and after due research over 191 days, submitted its report to President Droupadi Murmu.
The committee has not specified any period for rolling out simultaneous polls.
'Not pragmatic': How opposition reacted to 'One Nation, One Election' proposal
Earlier, reacting to reports that the Union government will implement 'One Nation, One Election' during its current tenure, the Congress had said the concept was not pragmatic, and added there was no draft proposal and that the Centre never tried to speak to it.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, "You quoted government sources, here I am the official spokesperson of the Congress party laying threadbare the many failures of the Modi government. How long is this government going to survive by leaking selective information?"
"How long is this government going to survive by turning a blind eye to real and actual problems of this nation? How long is this government going to survive by planting information, by releasing these hot air balloons to test the waters? The reality is that there is no draft, the reality is that there has been no discussion, the reality is that there are assemblies in progress, the reality is that the government has made no attempt to speak to us," she said at a press conference.
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"It is absolutely not pragmatic to do this but the government has to have a conversation. So these sources-based information, that is what this government has survived on, leak sources-based information, run (it) in news channels, do reportage through WhatsApp, this nonsense must stop but that is what continues and that has continued in the last 100 days," Shrinate said.
