One Nation One Election Panel: Its Task and the Campaign of Calumny

[Sukla Sen]

<<The Government of India has set up a high-level committee (HLC) to examine and make recommendations on holding simultaneous elections across the country, for national and state legislatures and also village, town and city councils.>>

(Excerpted from: <https://www.deccanherald.com/amp/story/opinion%2Fan-undesirable-idea-2672817>.)

That's decidedly misleading.

The terms of reference under which the panel is to operate provide, pretty unambiguously:

"...Firstly, the committee shall recommend amendments to the Constitution, the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the Representation of the People Act, 1951, as well as other relevant laws and rules for the purpose of making it legally possible to hold simultaneous elections [emphasis added] to the Lok Sabha, all state assemblies and local bodies across India."

(Ref.: <https://scroll.in/article/1055341/explainer-why-terms-of-reference-of-one-nation-one-election-panel-have-created-controversy>.)

No!

The panel is *not* to examine the desirability and feasibility of simultaneous polls.

It's to chart out the roadmap how to do it.

As straightforward as that.

This is being deliberately suppressed and distorted in a huge concerted campaign of calumny.