Varun Hari Prasad

I write this essay in the backdrop of the High Level Committee (HLC) on One Nation One Election submitting its report to the President of India on 14 March 2024. At the very outset, it seems like as if the Union Government had made up its mind on what the outcome of HLC would be at the time of Constituting the HLC itself. To substantiate this, I would like to draw attention to the Gazette Notification issued on 02 September 2023. The Gazette Notification itself has concluded that “ elections are held almost every year and within a year too at different times, which result in massive expenditure by the Government and other stakeholders, diversion of security forces and other electoral officers engaged in such elections from their primary duties for significantly prolonged periods, disruption in developmental work on account of prolonged application of Model Code of Conduct, etc.; ”.   Therefore, I firmly believe that the HLC could not attempt a dispassionate analysis of the pros a...