A Parliamentary committee has recommended that all elections, from the panchayat level to the Lok Sabha, should have a common electoral roll. The panel believes this will bring down costs as well as the number of duplicate voters, PTI reported. The Standing Committee on Law and Personnel, in its latest report, also said the move could help cut down on corrupt practices during elections.

A report by the Law Ministry tabled in Parliament on Friday confirmed that the national Election Commission and its state counterparts have different rolls as of now. The EC conducts the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, while the state commissions oversee local body elections. In 1999, the EC had written to the government saying the separate rolls "not only create confusion among the electors because their names may be present in one roll but absent in the other, or vice versa, but also result in duplication of effort and expenditure.”