New Delhi: The Law Commission on Wednesday, October 25, presented a roadmap, including possible changes required to the constitution, to the high-level panel headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind looking into the proposal of simultaneous polls.According to The Hindu, the commission said the proposal can only be materialised by the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, as it would, over time, work out a formula to synchronise all assembly elections, either by extending or reducing the tenures of respective state assemblies. A report from the Law Commission is still pending in this regard, and it will be invited again for another round of discussions by the Kovind panel.While the Law Commission is looking into the proposal of holding assembly and parliament elections at once, the panel headed by the former president is exploring ways to synchronise assembly, parliament, municipality, and panchayat elections all at once. The Kovind Panel has been officially renamed as the High Level Committee (HLC) on One Nation, One Election, a Law Ministry release said.The HLC has already written to political parties across the country to elicit their views on the matter. Letters have so far been sent to six national parties, 33 state parties, and seven registered unrecognised parties.At Wednesday’s meeting, the HLC took “note” of the resignation of the resignation of Adhir Ranjan Choudhury, leader of the single largest party in the Lok Sabha, from membership of the committee.The meeting was attended by Union home minister Amit Shah, former leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad; law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal; former chairman of the 15th finance commission N.K. Singh; former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash C. Kashyap; senior advocate Harish Salve; and former chief vigilance commissioner Sanjay Kothari.In its official notification issued on September 2, constituting the Kovind Panel, the government said holding frequent elections so far has resulted in massive expenditure, diversion of official machinery for election purposes, and disruption in developmental activity due to the Model Code of Conduct. Therefore, if simultaneous polls are held, the government notification said, all three of them can be tackled.However, there have been several criticisms against the government’s proposal of one nation, one election. Writing in the Indian Express, former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa had said, “There are more meaningful and substantive electoral reforms that need the urgent attention of Parliament. There are far more effective ways to bring about greater transparency in election-related expenditure than chasing the mechanical scheduling of elections. Yes, there might be a need to bring about more managerial efficiency in conducting elections but that might not need onerous constitutional amendments.”Lavasa then goes on to say, the reasons cited by the government in favour of its ‘one nation, one election’ are nothing more than “instinctive surmise(s) that cannot form a sufficient basis for taking a decision that has significant implications”.