New Delhi: On Thursday, the Union Cabinet approved the 'One Nation, One Election Bill', and it is expected to be placed for discussion in the ongoing Winter session of the Parliament. The bill, which allows simultaneous elections to Parliament as well as state assemblies, is going to be referred to the Joint Parliament Committee (JPC), Hindustan Times reported.
The bill is high on the BJP-led Centre's agenda.
It was in September that the Union Cabinet approved the proposal in the report presented by a high-powered committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed it and said that the Cabinet accepted the recommendations of the High-Level Committee on simultaneous elections.
Modi wrote on X, "I compliment our former President, Shri Ram Nath Kovind Ji, for spearheading this effort and consulting a wide range of stakeholders. This is an important step towards making our democracy even more vibrant and participative."
According to the recommendations of the high-level committee, concurrent elections can be conducted for Lok Sabha and state assemblies as the first phase, and local body elections can be synchronized within 100 days.
Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday said that the Centre should build a consensus on the "One Nation, One Election' initiative. The matter is not in the interest of any party but the nation, he claimed, and added that the initiative will be a game-changer. The former first citizen of India further claimed that not only himself but economists who believe that after its implementation, the country's GDP will rise by 1-1.5 per cent.