Bhubaneswar: The first meeting of the high-level committee constituted recently to examine and make recommendations on holding elections simultaneously was held here on Saturday under the chairmanship of former President Ram Nath Kovind.
Kovind outlined the agenda of the meeting and modalities of how the committee will work, according to a Ministry of Law & Justice press release.
The committee decided to invite recognised national political parties, political parties having government in states, political parties having their representatives in Parliament, other recognised state political parties for seeking suggestions/viewpoints on the issue of simultaneous elections in India.
The meeting was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Law & Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal, former Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha) Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Finance Commission Chairman NK Singh, former Lok Sabha Secretary General Dr. Subhash C. Kashyap, and former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Sanjay Kothari.
Senior Advocate Harish Salve joined the meeting virtually.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who was named on the panel, was absent. He had said soon after the formation of the committee that he didn’t wish to be on it.
