 "Voting, Election, polls, Voting day, Voters")
The Centre on Thursday constituted a committee headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind for "One Nation, One Election".
Some media reports also speculate that the government might introduce the "One Nation, One Election" bill during the special Parliament session from September 18 to 22.
Union minister of parliamentary affairs Pralhad Joshi said that the Centre has called a special session of Parliament from September 18, which will have five sittings.
Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that he does not know what important situation has arisen that the Parliament is being convened suddenly. He said that elections are nearing, and in the states going to elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) condition is bad.
"This special session is being called by them to find a way to save themselves from this situation and how to mislead people again. If we get a chance, we will prove that this is not "amrit kaal" but "garal kaal". If the government has the courage, then it should discuss the various issues, including China and Manipur. They should accept our demand for constituting Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC)," he said.
Officials said that holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies would need at least five constitutional amendments and a large number of additional EVMs and paper-trail machines, costing "thousands of crores of rupees", but will yield a huge long-term saving to the public exchequer.
The simultaneous elections would require amendments in five articles of the Constitution — Article 83 (relating to the duration of Houses of Parliament), Article 85 (relating to dissolution of the Lok Sabha by the President), Article 172 (relating to the duration of the state legislatures), Article 174 (relating to dissolution of the state legislatures), and Article 356 (relating to the imposition of the President's Rule in states).
Officials said that holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies would need at least five constitutional amendments and a large number of additional EVMs and paper-trail machines, costing "thousands of crores of rupees", but will yield a huge long-term saving to the public exchequer.
The simultaneous elections would require amendments in five articles of the Constitution — Article 83 (relating to the duration of Houses of Parliament), Article 85 (relating to dissolution of the Lok Sabha by the President), Article 172 (relating to the duration of the state legislatures), Article 174 (relating to dissolution of the state legislatures), and Article 356 (relating to the imposition of the President's Rule in states).
A parliamentary panel had examined the issue of simultaneous elections with various stakeholders, including the Election Commission.
The officlals said that the committee made certain recommendations in this regard. The matter now stands referred to the Law Commission for further examination to work out a "practicable road map and framework", they added.
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On National Voters' Day in 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue of "one nation, one election", and "one nation, one voters' list".
He said that a continuous cycle of elections hampers the development works.
"Pushing for discussion on "one nation, one election" and "one nation, one voters' list" will let different points of view emerge," the PM said.
What is 'one nation, one election'?
The concept of "one nation, one election" refers to holding simultaneous elections across the country. It implies that elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies across India will be held simultaneously — with voting presumably taking place around the same time.
This idea of "one nation, one election" has been championed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, featured in the party’s 2014 Lok Sabha election manifesto.
What is the history of 'one nation, one election'?
Simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies were a norm in India till 1967. The Lok Sabha and state legislatures went to elections together in 1952 and 1957.
In July 1959, this cycle was first broken in Kerala when the government of Jawaharlal Nehru used Article 356 of the Constitution to dismiss the government of Chief Minister E M S Namboodiripad.
Namboodiripad became the Chief Minister after the elections in April 1957, and the state voted for a new five-year Assembly again in February 1960.
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In the 1967 elections, the Congress party suffered defeat in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal, Odisha, and Kerala. Following this defeat, the governments of the Samyukta Vidhayak Dal, comprising the Bharatiya Kranti Dal, the Samyukta Socialist Party, the Praja Socialist Party, the Swatantra Party, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and defectors from the Congress, were formed.
The governments were unstable, and many of these Assemblies were dissolved before their terms were over, resulting in the separation of the election cycles of many states from that of the Lok Sabha.
In 1983, the Election Commission proposed to bring back simultaneous elections.
The Law Commission, headed by Justice B P Jeevan Reddy, in its 170th report in May 1999, also pushed for simultaneous elections. The report stated: “We must go back to the situation where the elections to the Lok Sabha and all the Legislative Assemblies are held at once”.
In 2003, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee took up the matter with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
In 2010, L K Advani discussed the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Advani said, “I found both of them (Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee) receptive to a proposal I have been advocating for quite some time: fixed-term legislatures and simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly poll. A mini general election” every alternate year was “not good for the health either of our Central and state governments or of our polity."
In 2015, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, headed by E M Sudarsana Natchiappan, prepared a report on the "Feasibility of holding simultaneous elections to House of People (Lok Sabha) and state legislative assemblies".
The report said that simultaneous elections would help to reduce:
1. The expenditure that is incurred for the conduct of separate elections;
2. The policy paralysis that results from the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct during election time;
3. The impact on the delivery of essential services; and
4. The burden on crucial manpower that is deployed during elections.
After the report was released, the Congress opposed the idea as “impractical” and “unworkable”.
The Trinamool Congress said that it was "anti-democratic and unconstitutional".
The Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said it was “not feasible”.
The CPI(M) said the idea had “practical problems”.
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In 2017, President Pranab Mukherjee said that frequent elections “put on hold development programmes, disrupt normal public life, and impact essential services and burden human resources with prolonged periods of election duty”.
In a draft report on August 30, 2018, the Law Commission, headed by Justice B S Chauhan, said that simultaneous elections could not be held within the existing framework of the Constitution.
"…Appropriate amendments to the Constitution, the Representation of the People Act 1951, and the Rules of Procedure of Lok Sabha and state Assemblies would be required", the report said.
The Commission said that all elections due in a calendar year should be conducted together.
In his address to the Joint Session of Parliament in June 2019, President Ram Nath Kovind said, “One nation, simultaneous election is the need of the hour, which would facilitate accelerated development, thereby benefiting our countrymen.”
During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, PM Modi campaigned for a single campaign and election for all state Assemblies and the Lok Sabha.
What will be the impact of 'one nation, one election' in India?
Holding simultaneous elections would cut down on the costs involved in separate elections.
Experts argue that it will increase efficiency in the administrative set-up throughout the country since it slows down considerably during polling.
"One nation, one election" can help ensure continuity in the policies and programmes of the central and state governments. Currently, the Model Code of Conduct is imposed whenever elections are set to take place, putting a ban on the launch of new projects for public welfare for that period.
Further, the Law Commission said that holding simultaneous elections will boost voter turnout as it will be more convenient for them to cast votes at once.
