New Delhi: The Congress said on Sunday that the high-level committee's 'One nation, One election' timing is suspicious and that the committee's terms of reference have already set its conclusions. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the committee's make-up is a dead giveaway, and that Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was correct to decline an invitation to serve on it. "The High-level Committee on what is called "One Nation One Election" is a ceremonial exercise, the timing of which is exceedingly dubious. His statement was made on X (previously Twitter) and he emphasised that the suggestions were predetermined by the terms of reference.
Further, "the composition of the Committee is also a total give-away, and the Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha @adhirrcinc last night very rightly refused to be part of it," he said.
On Saturday, Chowdhury said he wouldn't be joining the panel the Centre had announced to look into the prospect of holding simultaneous elections.—Inputs from Agencies