“Government sources” on Friday floated the “one nation, one election” balloon without any official word, a day after the surprise announcement of a five-day “special session” of Parliament whose agenda remains unknown — keeping political circles busy with speculation for two days in ­a row.

On Friday morning, news agency PTI quoted “government sources” as saying a committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind had been formed to explore the possibility of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies.

No official notification — except an oral observation by a minister in response to reporters’ questions — had come till evening to confirm the formation of such a committee, even as speculation and conjectures dominated headlines through the day. The government did not deny the news report either.

The Parliament “special session” announcement and the talk around “one nation, one election” have coincided with the two-day meeting of the INDIA alliance in Mumbai, prompting many to believe that the immediate intention could be to grab attention and “manage the news cycle”.

“One nation, one election”, a pet idea of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was lobbed a day after the government said a “special session” of Parliament had been convened from September 18-22. So far, the government has not revealed why the session has been called.

Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said on Friday the “agenda” would be decided and announced soon. “Vishesh satra mein jo agenda hai, do-teen din mein, teen-char din mein jab final hota hai toh main iska charcha karunga (I will speak on the agenda of the special session once it is decided in two-three or three-four days),” Joshi said in response to questions.

Joshi’s reply appeared to suggest the government had called the special session of Parliament without finalising the agenda. But the minister also said an “important item” had led the government to call the session.

Responding to questions on the “one nation, one election” idea, Joshi said it should be debated and that it was part of the “evolution of democracy”. He said a committee headed by former President Kovind had been formed to hold talks.

“A committee has been formed. There is no need for the Opposition to get nervous. After the formation of the committee, its report will come and it will be discussed in the public domain and also in Parliament,” he said.

Since Thursday, political circles have been agog with speculation that the government could use the special session to push for “one nation, one election”, the women’s reservation bill, or the uniform civil code bill. There have been rumours that the government could advance the Lok Sabha polls and hold it along with the elections in five states towards the end of this year, or alternatively club the Assembly polls with the parliamentary elections in May-June next year.

Amid the guessing game, the government has maintained silence, issuing no official notification.

BJP chief J.P. Nadda drove to Kovind’s residence to meet him in the morning. Till evening there was no word on why Nadda had met Kovind, indicating the government deliberately wanted to avoid clarity and keep the speculation alive. The BJP didn’t even say that Nadda had made a courtesy call to the former President. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, too, had met Kovind a day earlier.