Former President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday said that once the ‘One nation, one election’ becomes functional, it would galvanise the election process and help in the economic growth of the country.

Kovind, who was the chairman of the high-level committee on simultaneous elections that was constituted by the Centre in September 2023, was speaking at a programme of a tribal organisation in Kolkata.

“Voters are tired of meeting candidates of political parties seeking votes every year and probably don’t want to face them so frequently. Every year, the election makes people averse to going to booths at times… Once the (one nation, one poll) proposal becomes fully functional in 2029-30, or say at a later date, as it might take 5-10 years to have simultaneous polls, voters won’t have to head to polling stations every year for one poll or another. This will also lead to economic growth as the GDP growth of the country will rise by 1.5% from 7.23% at present,” Kovind said.

“Think about that, if 1.5 points are added to the existing GDP it won’t take long to reach 10%. Then our country will be among the top economic superpowers in the world,” he said.

He said that the poor, Dalits, and backward castes of the country “represent the beautiful mosaic of culture and play a dominant role in projecting the dignity of the country by preserving their indigenous culture”.

“We need to make them feel as stakeholders in nation-building. We need to have them inside this auditorium to listen to the proceedings and our speeches and not just present their cultural programmes in the open space before the building as the dignitaries enter. When we make this inclusivity a reality, the nation will truly progress. It is already progressing in that direction with proposals like one nation, one poll,” Kovind said.