Haridwar-based organisation to host lecture on simultaneous polls at Maha Kumbh

Haridwar-based welfare organization hosts lecture series at Maha Kumbh, including one on simultaneous polls, inviting former president Kovind.

A Haridwar-based community welfare organisation has lined up a series of seven lectures on diverse themes, including one on the contentious subject of simultaneous polls, at its camp at the Maha Kumbh site in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj on January 18.

The first in the series is slated to be held on January 12, a day ahead of the beginning of the mega festival that will run till February 26 in the holy city of Prayagraj.

"A total of seven lectures will be hosted by us at our camp at the Maha Kumbh starting with a lecture on the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda on January 12. The lecture scheduled for January 18 is titled — 'One Nation, One Election — Aarthik Rajnaitik Sudhar Evam Viksit Bharat ke Sandarbh Mein'," an official of Divya Prem Seva Mission said.

The official claimed that an invitation had been sent to former president Ram Nath Kovind, with a request to visit the camp and deliver the lecture on January 18.

Earlier in September 2023, a high-level committee, led by Mr. Kovind, was set up with a mandate to examine and make recommendations at the earliest on the issue of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, state assemblies, municipalities and panchayats.

The first meeting of a parliamentary panel scrutinising the two bills on conducting simultaneous polls was held on January 8, with the opposition members criticising the concept as an attack on the basic fabric of the Constitution and federalism, and the BJP MPs hailing it as reflective of popular opinion.

The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill were introduced in the Lok Sabha during the recent Winter Session and referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee.