Experts back ‘One Nation, One Election' before JPC

The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) reviewing the ambitious ‘One Nation, One Election’ (ONOE) Bill held its sitting on Monday under the chairmanship of BJP MP PP Chaudhary.

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Several distinguished academics and former lawmakers attended the meeting. They shared their insights on the proposed simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

Among the expert witnesses were Prof. G. Gopal Reddy, Chairperson of the Governing Body at Miranda House and former UGC member; Prof. Sushma Yadav, former Vice-Chancellor of Central University of Haryana; Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, ex-Rajya Sabha MP and political thinker; Prof. Sheila Rai, General Secretary of the Rashtriya Samaj Vigyan Parishad; and Prof. Nani Gopal Mahanta, Director of the Centre for South East Asia at Gauhati University.

These experts stressed that democracy cannot be reduced to just frequent elections. The current cycle of continuous elections leads to widespread corruption, disrupts governance, and weakens long-term policy implementation, they said. They went on to say that the Model Code of Conduct, which imposes restrictions on the government once elections are announced, hinders development schemes and administrative continuity.