The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on ‘One Nation, One Election’ has said that simultaneous Lok Sabha, Assembly and local body elections could save nearly 7 lakh crore rupees, improve governance efficiency and increase India’s GDP growth by up to 1.6 per cent. JPC Chairperson and Lok Sabha MP P. P. Chaudhary made these remarks while addressing a press conference in Gandhinagar last evening.
Mr Chaudhary said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had constituted an eight-member committee under former President Ram Nath Kovind to examine the proposal. According to him, the committee spent around 186 days preparing its report before the matter was referred to the JPC.
He said the committee’s recommendations propose synchronising Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, followed by Panchayat and Municipality polls within 100 days. Members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union
Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 are on a three-day visit to Gujarat since yesterday. The JPC members, headed by P. P. Chaudhary, also held discussions with Chief Secretary M. K. Das, DGP Dr K. L. N. Rao and other senior officials at Gift City Club in Gandhinagar. The JPC has a total of 39 members, including 27 MPs from the Lok Sabha and 12 from the Rajya Sabha, apart from the Chairperson.
