WIDER CONSULTATION NEEDED ON ONE ELECTION PROPOSAL

THE Union government has moved quickly on the issue of simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and all state legislatures.

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The Centre-appointed committee headed by former President Ramnath Kovind recently submitted its report on the 'one nation, one election' proposal to the government. The Law Commission is also likely to give its report on the subject soon. But issues relating to federalism and grassroots democratic voices have been raised against the move. The main argument in favour of this move is to save the country from the huge expenses, running into thousands of crores of rupees, incurred for holding frequent elections. The other argument is that the repeated deployment of armed forces on election duty adversely impacts the country's security situation. It is also argued that simultaneous polls wil