On Wednesday, the Union Cabinet cleared the proposal for ‘One Nation One Election’ in a step towards the simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. The bill for holding polls is likely to be introduced in the upcoming winter session of Parliament, according to the media reports.
The development came after the report of the high-level committee, which was headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind, was placed before the Union Cabinet. The Modi 2.0 government had constituted the panel under the former President to examine the possibiliyt of simultaneous elections. The panel submitted its report to the President in March 2024.
The BJP has intensified its pitch for a ‘One Nation One Election’ in the recent weeks which also found a mention by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech. PM Modi said, ‘Saying that simultaneous polls were the need of the hour’. PM contended that frequent polls were creating hurdles in the country’s progress. Earlier this week, Union Home Minister Amit Shah doubled down on the issue, saying ‘One Nation One Election’ would be implemented within the NDA’s current tenure.
The panel had also recommended the preparation of a common electoral roll and voter ID cards by the Election Commission in consultation with the state election authorities. Presently, the ECI is responsible for Lok Sabha and assembly polls, while local body polls for municipalities and panchayats are managed by state election commissions. The panel had recommended 18 constitutional amendments, most of which will not need ratification by state assemblies. However, these would require certain constitutional amendment bills that would need to be passed by Parliament.
Separately, the Law Commission is also likely to come up soon with its own report on simultaneous polls. ‘The Law Commission is likely to recommend holding polls for all the three tiers of the government – Lok Sabha, state assemblies and local bodies like municipalities and panchayats – starting 2029, and a provision for unity government in cases like hung house or no-confidence motion’, according to the media reports.
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