President visits Advani to confer Bharat Ratna
The President visited the house of Mr Advani, who has not been keeping well, in New Delhi to bestow upon him the nation's highest civilian honour.
A panel on ‘One Nation One Election’ led by former President Ram Nath Kovind tasked to explore the possibility of simultaneous national and state assembly elections, submitted on Thursday its report to President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan here.
“Former President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind who heads High-Level Committee (HLC) on ‘One Nation, One Election’ presented the report on simultaneous elections in the country to President Droupadi Murmu along with members of the HLC including Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, Minister of State (I/C) for Law and Justice Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad among others,” a statement from the Rashtrapati Bhavan said.
Earlier in January this year, the High Level Committee on One Nation, One Election had invited public suggestions on the issue.
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The Committee has also taken into consideration suggestions by six national parties, 33 State parties and seven registered unrecognised parties on holding simultaneous elections.
The report also includes suggestions by the Law Commission of India.
The Narendra Modi government has long been pushing for simultaneous state and national elections. Last year, a committee was formed to explore the possibilities of holding Lok Sabha and Assembly elections simultaneously.
Apart from the former President, the committee comprises Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Chairman of 15th Finance Commission N K Singh, former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash C Kashyap, Senior Advocate Harish Salve and former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Sanjay Kothari.
Lok Sabha and Assembly elections used to be held simultaneously in India until 1967. However, some state assemblies were dissolved prematurely in 1968 and the practice was stopped.
‘One Nation One Elections’ was also part of the ruling BJP’s 2014 Lok Sabha election manifesto.
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