CM Mamata Banerjee to skip 'One Nation, One Election' meet in Delhi

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], February 5 (ANI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Monday that she will be unable to attend the 'One Nation, One Election' meeting in Delhi.
Instead, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Kalyan Banerjee will attend the meeting.
The chief minister was expected to attend a meeting in Delhi called by the Central government to discuss the 'One Nation, One Election' proposal.
"I have cancelled my trip to Delhi because the state's budget is on February 8...and because I have only 2 days left, I have cancelled my trip to Delhi due to an emergency... I am sending Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Kalyan Banerjee on behalf of my party," CM Banerjee said.
Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to the high-level committee on 'One Nation, One Election', saying that she does not agree with the concept of simultaneous polls as the Indian Constitution does not follow the concept.
"Does the Indian Constitution follow the concept of 'One Nation, One Government? I am afraid it does not. Our Constitution conceives of the Indian nation in a federal manner. Therefore, the Indian nation has been given a Union Government and several State governments. If the framers of the Indian Constitution did not mention the concept of 'One Nation, One Government, how have you arrived at the concept of 'One Nation, One Election'?" the Trinamool Congress supremo said in her letter.
On February 2, the High-Level Committee (HLC) on One Nation One Election, chaired by Ram Nath Kovind, former President of India, held a consultation round with a delegation from Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) comprising Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, R Dinesh, President, Sanjiv Puri, President Designate, Marut Sen Gupta, Deputy Director General, Amita Sarkar, Deputy Director General, Binoy Job, Executive Director, and G Srivastava, Chief Economic Strategy and Project Coordination.
The delegation made a presentation before the committee in which the views of the industry on ONOE and its impact were highlighted, after which they presented a formal memorandum.
Ram Nath Kovind, Chairman HLC also held an interaction today with Dr. Santosh Kumar Suman, Minister Government of Bihar & National Chairman, Hindustani Awaam Morcha (HAM), who presented the view of his party on holding simultaneous elections.
The fifth meeting of the committee was attended by NK Singh, former Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission, Dr Subhash C. Kashyap, former Secretary General, Lok Sabha and Sanjay Kothari, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner.
One Nation, One Election was constituted through a notification dated September 20, 2023. (ANI)