Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has turned down the invitation to join the 8-member committee formed by the Central government earlier today to scrutinise the concept of 'One nation, One election.'
"I have no hesitation whatsoever in declining to serve on the Committee whose terms of reference have been prepared in a manner to guarantee its conclusions. It is, I am afraid, a total eyewash," the Congress leader said in a letter.
"Furthermore, I find that the current LOP in the Rajya Sabha has been excluded. This is a deliberate insult to the system of Parliamentary democracy. In these circumstances, I have no option but to decline your invitation," Chowdhury wrote.
Earlier on Saturday, the Centre notified the 8-member committee to evaluate feasibility of simultaneous Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections.
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The committee will examine and recommend specific amendments to the Constitution, the Representation of the People Act and any other laws and rules which would require amendments for the purpose of holding simultaneous elections. It will also examine and recommend, if the amendments to the Constitution would require ratification by the states.
The panel will also analyse and recommend possible solutions to scenarios such as hung House, adoption of no-confidence motions, or defection or any such other event in case of simultaneous elections.
Apart from Chowdhury, the members of the panel include Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Democratic Progressive Azad Party founder and former senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, Fifteenth Finance Commission chairman NK Singh, former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash C. Kashyap, senior advocate Harish Salve and former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Sanjay Kothari, according to a law ministry notification issued on Saturday.
Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will attend the meetings of the committee as a special invitee, while Legal Affairs Secretary Niten Chandra will be secretary to the panel.
