Sravasti Dasgupta 
New Delhi: The Union cabinet on Wednesday (September 18) approved the report by the high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind on the ‘one nation one election’ proposal that recommended simultaneous polls in the country to the Lok Sabha, state assemblies as well as local bodies (including panchayats and municipalities).
Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the Union cabinet, Union minister for information and broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the cabinet had accepted the Kovind panel’s report, but did not provide a timeline for when one nation, one election will be rolled out, only saying that extensive consultations will be held in the coming days and an implementation group be formed.
“The Union cabinet has approved the recommendations of the high-level committee on ‘one nation, one election’ today. As you are aware, elections were held simultaneously from 1951 to 1967. After that in 1999, the Law Commission in its 170th report recommended one election to Lok Sabha and all legislative assemblies in five years to ensure that development continues in the country, and the expenses that are incurred in conducting elections can be avoided and so that law and order does not suffer as policemen are deployed in large numbers during elections,” he said.
He continued: “The youth, which has an aspiration for fast-paced development in education, employment and manufacturing, they also want development to be smooth.
“In 2015, a parliamentary committee asked the government to suggest simultaneous elections. For this a high-level committee was constituted under former President Ram Nath Kovind. That committee conducted extensive consultations with a large number of stakeholders and submitted its report. The committee got extensive feedback that there is widespread support for simultaneous elections in the country. That is why the NDA government’s cabinet unanimously approved these recommendations and the implementation will be done in two phases as the committee had suggested.”
The Kovind-led panel submitted its report in March this year to President Droupadi Murmu.
In its 18,626-page report, the committee recommended the conduct of simultaneous elections in two steps. In the first step, simultaneous elections will be held to the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies and in the second, elections will be held to the municipalities and panchayat bodies within 100 days of the elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
“Now the committee recommendations will be discussed across various forums in the country with all industry bodies and social groups. We want discussions to be held in a scientific way about how it will benefit the economy, law and order, and how black money can be curbed. After this, an implementation group will be formed to discuss the legal processes,” said Vaishnaw.
No timeline yet
In order to conduct simultaneous elections to the municipal and panchayat bodies along with the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, the committee recommended the introduction of Article 324A in the constitution.
It also recommended an amendment in Article 325 for enabling a single electoral roll and single elector’s photo identity cards, which will be prepared by the Election Commission (EC) in consultation with the state election commissions, which will substitute any other electoral roll prepared by the EC.
The report said this will require ratification by states (with a one-thirds majority), but that the implementation of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies will not require such ratification.
When asked if any such legislation will be brought in parliament’s winter session to implement these changes, Vaishnaw did not give a direct answer on a timeline but referred to Union home minister Amit Shah’s statement on Tuesday, where he said that one nation, one election will be brought during the NDA’s current tenure.
“We will have a detailed discussion and, after extensive deliberation, develop and build a consensus in the country on this term. We will bring it in this term, this is what the home minister stated in front of you all yesterday.”
Unlike when the committee report was submitted to Murmu, the BJP no longer enjoys a majority in the Lok Sabha, as it was reduced to 240 seats after the 2024 general election and relies on its two key allies, the Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
Vaishnaw did not disclose whether any changes to the constitution will be brought in the winter session of parliament.
“This decision will have positive economic implications. We will build consensus, and once all the legal processes are completed, we will announce the appointed date. The report is available on the website and is a public document and it talks about an ‘appointed date’. Once that process gets initiated, we will be able to tell which is the first election,” he said.
In the report, the committee recommended that in order to bring in the synchronisation of elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, the president may bring in a notification, issued on the date of the first sitting of the Lok Sabha, called the “appointed date”.
With the next Lok Sabha elections due in five years, if the notification is issued in the coming months, then the tenure of legislatures in all those states in which assembly elections are due to be held in the years before 2029 will be cut short.
This could include states like Maharashtra and Haryana, where elections are due this year; Delhi and Bihar, where elections are due in 2025; followed by other states like West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Tamil Nadu in 2026; Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in 2027; and Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Karnataka in 2028.
Support from ally JD(U); opposition decries move
Following the cabinet’s acceptance of the recommendations of the report, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a statement that this was “an important step towards making our democracy even more vibrant and participatory.”
The BJP’s key ally, the JD(U), which had also favoured the exercise to the committee, said that it supports one nation, one election.
“This is a welcome step, and our party’s stand on ‘one nation, one election’ is clear. The Ram Nath Kovind-led committee received our support when Union minister Lalan Singh and Sanjay Jha supported them. This will ensure that delivery of schemes will not be affected,” said JD(U) leader Rajiv Ranjan Prasad.
The high-level committee’s report was compiled after taking responses from 47 political parties, of which 15 opposed the exercise.
Following the cabinet’s announcement, opposition parties have hit out at the NDA government and accused the BJP of attempting to divert attention ahead of elections in Haryana.
“This is not practical, it will not work. When elections come, they bring up such issues to divert attention,” said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
Aam Aadmi Party MP Sandeep Pathak questioned how the Union government was planning on bringing in simultaneous elections, when the elections to Haryana and Maharashtra were not being held at the same time.
“A few days ago, elections for four states were to be announced, but they [the BJP] announced elections for only Haryana and J&K and left Maharashtra and Jharkhand. If they cannot conduct elections in four states simultaneously, how will they manage simultaneous elections in the whole country?” he said.
Also read | Simultaneous Elections: Why Now?
Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien shared a letter written by the West Bengal chief minister to the high-level committee in January, in which she had disagreed with the formulation and proposal of one nation, one election.
Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Kumar Jha said that while elections were held simultaneously earlier, it was brought to an end.
“We have some basic questions. There was ‘one nation, one election’ in India till 1962, but this ended because the dominance of a party was being challenged in several regions and minority governments were formed, while mid-term polls were in some places. In some states, two or three elections were held in five years. So it was brought to an end. What will be the arrangements for it this time?” he said.
Concerns against one nation, one election were also raised by opposition parties in their representations to the Kovind panel. Communisty Party of India leader D. Raja said that the party had opposed simultaneous polls before the Kovind panel as it goes against India’s diversity and federal polity.
“One nation, one election goes against this vision and curtails state rights. For these reasons, the CPI is in opposition of the imposition of ONOE,” he said.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Asaduddin Owaisi said that one nation, one election was the BJP’s attempt to ensure that regional parties do not exist.
“The constitution will function based on constitutional principles. It has always been the ideology of the BJP and the RSS that they don’t want regional parties to exist. We have opposed this and we will continue to do so.”
The 15 parties that expressed their opposition to one nation, one election to the Kovind panel are the Aam Aadmi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Indian National Congress, the All India United Democratic Front, the All India Trinamool Congress, the All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, the Communist Party of India, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Naga People’s Front, the Samajwadi Party, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation and the Social Democratic Party of India.