Kovind-led panel recommends simultaneous Lok Sabha, Assembly polls

Committee recommends constitutional amendment to hold simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls which does not need to be ratified by the states

The Ram Nath Kovind-led panel submitted its report on the feasibility of implementing 'one nation, one poll' to President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday. This high-level committee, comprising former President Ram Nath Kovind and other eminent members, submitted the comprehensive report at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The committee recommends that elections of the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies take place simultaneously. Following this, elections to Municipalities and Panchayats should be held within 100 days of Lok Sabha elections. 

 

To enable these changes, the committee further recommended introducing Article 324A into the Indian constitution. There are also points in regard to actions that should be taken in cases such as a hung house, no-confidence motion, etc. The committee also clarified in its report that the states do not need to ratify the constitutional amendment to hold simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.

 

 

The report, spanning 18,626 pages, is the culmination of consultations with stakeholders and experts and 191 days of research since its establishment on September 2, 2023. The key focus of the report is the establishment of a unified electoral roll for conducting elections at various levels of governance, including the Lok Sabha, state assemblies, municipalities, and panchayats.
 

The committee was appointed by the Union Law Ministry and includes many eminent figures such as Home Minister Amit Shah, former leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, and former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash Kashyap, among others.

 

Here are the recommendations made in the 'one nation, one poll' report:

 

1. The committee recommends that the Government develop a legally tenable mechanism to restore the cycle of simultaneous elections.

 

2. The committee recommends that simultaneous elections to the House of the People and the State Legislative Assemblies be held in the first step. In the second step, the elections to Municipalities and Panchayats will be synchronised with the House of the People (Lok Sabha) and State Legislative Assemblies in such a way that elections to Municipalities and Panchayats are held within a hundred days of the holding of elections of the House of the People and the State Legislative Assemblies.

 

3. The committee recommends the introduction of Article 324A to enable simultaneous elections in Panchayats and Municipalities with the General elections of the House of the People and the State Legislative Assemblies and an amendment to Article 325 to enable a Single Electoral Roll and a Single Elector's Photo Identity Card, which the Election Commission of India shall prepare in consultation with the State Election Commission(s).

 

4. According to the committee, simultaneous elections to the House of the People and State Legislative Assemblies do not necessitate ratification by the states.

 

5. The committee recommends that in the event of a hung House, no-confidence motion, or any such event, fresh elections may be held to constitute the new House. Where fresh elections are held for the House of the People, the tenure of the House of the People will be only for the unexpired term of the immediately preceding full term of the House of the People, and the expiration of this period shall operate as a dissolution of the House.

 

6. Where fresh elections are held for the State Legislative Assemblies, then such new Legislative Assembly, unless sooner dissolved, shall continue up to the end of the full term of the House of the People.

 

7. The committee recommends that for making logistical arrangements for the conduct of simultaneous elections to the House of the People and State Legislative Assemblies, the Election Commission of India may draw a plan and estimate in advance for the procurement of equipment, such as EVMs and VVPATs, deployment of polling personnel and security forces, and make other necessary arrangements.
 

Syncing of elections

Interestingly, the 'one nation, one election' recommendations insist on synchronicity in election terms, which could be a problem for states such as Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Telangana, whose election schedules do not line up with the general elections. The committee recommends that election terms begin and end with Lok Sabha elections, which could lead to variations in Assembly duration for different states. It also raises concerns as to how states would proceed in the event that a government fails a no-confidence motion.