A day after Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote to Home Minister Amit Shah declining to be part of the 8-member panel to study 'One Nation One Election', reports, quoting unnamed sources, have claimed that Adhir Ranjan had initially given consent to be part of the committee.
Adhir Ranjan had given his consent to be part of the committee before notification with names came out, ANI quoted an unnamed source in the government.
However, Adhir Ranjan later retracted and refused to be included in the panel. In a letter to Amit Shah, he called the move "an eyewash" and said "the sudden attempt to thrust a constitutionally suspect, pragmatically non-feasible and logistically unimplementable idea on the nation, months before the general elections, raises serious concerns about ulterior motives of the government."
Meanwhile, protests continued against the government's 'One Nation One Election' move as India bloc leaders united to unleash criticism against the Centre. The latest to join the bandwagon was Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot who said people were doubting the government's intentions.
"This is such a big decision, they (Centre) should have discussed it with all the opposition parties. If a decision had been taken together after discussion, people would have had faith that it was in the interest of the nation. But now people doubt their intentions, people are worried", Gehlot told reporters on Saturday.
Amid the row over his exclusion from the panel, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the people of India have "one nation, one solution" for 2024 and that is to get rid of the BJP's "misrule".
In a post on X, Kharge termed the high-level committee constituted by the Centre to examine the feasibility of 'One Nation, One Election' a "gimmick" and alleged the Modi government wants to slowly replace democracy in India with dictatorship.
The government on Saturday notified an eight-member high-level committee, which will be headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind, to examine and make recommendations for holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha, state assemblies, municipalities and panchayats.
Hours later, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the lone opposition leader in the panel, wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah declining to be a part of the committee, saying its "terms of reference have been prepared in a manner to guarantee its conclusions".
In his post, Kharge said, "This gimmick of forming a committee on 'One Nation, One Election' is a subterfuge for dismantling the Federal Structure of India."
"Drastic actions like 'One Nation, One Election' would sabotage our Democracy, Constitution and evolved-time-tested procedures. What can be accomplished by simple electoral reforms would prove to be a disaster, like other disruptive ideas of PM Modi," he said.
