Shri Ram Nath Kovind, Chairman of the High Level Committee (HLC) on One Nation One Election, and its members namely Shri N. K. Singh, Dr. Subhash Kashyap and Shri Sanjay Kothari today met and interacted with some leading economists of the country. A paper co-authored by Dr. N.K. Singh, former Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission and Dr. Prachi Mishra, Chief of Systemic Division Issues, IMF, titled, “Macroeconomic Impact of Harmonizing Electoral Cycles” had been presented to the HLC some time back. The paper brought out that, apart from the expenses, there are wider economic ramifications in addition to repetitive expenses, which entailed issues of GDP growth, investment, expanded public expenditure, fiscal deficit, education, health outcomes, and law and order, besides uncertainty in the minds of investors and other societal stakeholders. The HLC decided to have a wider discussion on the paper.
In the aforesaid context, the paper was presented today by the two co-authors seeking the comments and responses of distinguished economists in a sort of a brainstorming session. Those who participated in the meeting included: Prof. Chetan Ghate, Director, Institute of Economic Growth (IEG), Dr. Deepak Mishra, Director & Chief Executive, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), Prof. Indira Rajaraman, Non-Resident Honorary Distinguished Fellow, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Dr. Poonam Gupta, Director General, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), Dr. Rakesh Mohan, President Emeritus & Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP), Shri. Sanjiv Puri, President -Designate, CII; Chairman and Managing Director, ITC Limited, Dr. Shamika Ravi, Member, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, Dr. Surjit S. Bhalla, Former Executive Director, IMF for India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, Shri Siddhartha, Editor, Times of India, Shri Vaidyanathan Iyer, Editor, Indian Express, Shri. Marut Sen Gupta, Deputy Director General, CII, Ms. Amita Sarkar, Deputy Director General, CII and Shri. Binoy Job, Executive Director, CII.
The HLC also held an interaction with Shri Asaduddin Owaisi, Member of Parliament and President of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM), who presented his party’s views on the issue of simultaneous election before the committee.
Continuing with its consultation with the State Election Commissioners, the committee met Shri Sanjay Prasad, State Election Commissioner, Gujarat. Shri Prasad highlighted various logistic and legislative requirements needed for holding simultaneous elections for local bodies along with the State Assemblies and the Lok Sabha.
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