The first official meeting of the ‘One Nation, One Election’ Committee was held on Saturday under the chairmanship of former President Ram Nath Kovind

Panel members discussed and made recommendations for carrying out simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha, state assemblies, municipalities, and panchayats

The meeting comes after the Narendra Modi-led BJP government constituted a committee headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind

Currently, the Election Commission of India (ECI) conducts the elections for state assemblies as well as Lok Sabha (Parliament) as separate events. Every state holds its elections every five years, similar to the Lok Sabha, however, most of the states have their own electoral cycle

Members of the ‘One Nation, One Election’ include Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former leader of the opposition Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former chairman of 15th Finance Commission NK Singh, former Lok Sabha general secretary Subash Kashyap, senior advocate Harish Salve, former chief vigilance commissioner Sanjay Kothari, and Minister of state (law) Arjun Ram Meghwal