“Sabotaging Parliamentary customs” Congress’ KC Venugopal reacts to High-Level Committee on simultaneous polls

New Delhi [India], September 3 (ANI): Labelling the Centre’s High-Level Committee on simultaneous elections as a means to divert the issue of Adani, Congress senior leader KC Venugopal on Sunday said that the government is sabotaging the Parliamentary customs and conventions.

“Government of India want to divert the issue of Adani…that’s why they are doing all these things. And also while doing these things, they are totally sabotaging the parliamentary customs and conventions,” Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said. 

The Centre on Saturday constituted an eight-member committee to examine and make recommendations for holding simultaneous elections in the country – ‘one nation, one election’.

The members of the committee, apart from former President Kovind as chairman, include Union Home Minister Amit Shah; Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury; former Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad; former Finance Commission chairman NK Singh, former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash C Kashyap, senior advocate Harish Salve and former chief vigilance commissioner Sanjay Kothari.

However, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, later on Saturday, declined to serve on the panel, saying its “terms of reference have been prepared in a manner to guarantee its conclusions”.

While sidestepping the questions on Chowdhury’s decisions, Venugopal, while speaking to reporters here, said that the government should come clean on its decision to exclude the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, from the High-Level Committee.

“How can they avoid the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha? What is the disqualification of Mallikarjun Kharge Ji to be a member of that committee? Even though we didn’t believe in the committee, the government should clarify,” he said.

The notification of the high-level panel by the Centre came just days after it announced a special session of the Parliament from September 18 to 22, on the same day the two-day Mumbai conclave of the INDIA bloc was in progress. 

However, the government remained tight-lipped on the issues to be taken up during the special session.

Opposition leaders slammed the BJP-led Centre for announcing a special session without holding prior consultations with them or informing the Business Advisory Committee.

According to the Centre, the high-level committee shall start functioning immediately and make recommendations at the earliest.

Further, according to the official notification, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will attend the meetings of the committee as a special invitee.

Simultaneous elections for the state assemblies and the Lok Sabha were held till 1967.

However, in 1968 and 1969 some legislative assemblies were dissolved prematurely followed by the dissolution of the Lok Sabha in 1970. This forced a change in electoral schedules for the states and the country.