Our President Dr.S.C.Kashyap, Padma Bhushan awardee, Retired Lok Sabha secretary-general was named by the government as a member of the high-level committee on simultaneous elections had spoken in favour of the idea in 2021, calling it “unexceptionable”.

‘One Nation, One Election’ Explained. What Is It and How It Can Work

‘One Nation, One Election’ means all Indians will vote in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections – to pick central and state representatives – in the same year, if not at the same time.

The panel – set up in September – has since studied “best practices from other countries”, consulted 39 political parties, economists, and the Election Commission of India. It said today it backs the idea, but calls for a legally sustainable mechanism that can break and re-align existing electoral cycles.

“The committee is of unanimous opinion that simultaneous polls should be held,” the report, submitted to President Droupadi Murmu, said, noting that Lok Sabha and Assembly polls could be held together with local body elections (also synchronised) 100 days later.

The ‘One Nation, One Election’ proposal was part of the BJP’s manifesto in 2019, but has drawn heavy criticism from the opposition, who have red-flagged constitutional issues.

Simultaneous Election: A Background

• The idea has been around since at least 1983, when the Election Commission first mooted it. However, until 1967, simultaneous elections were the norm in India.
• The first General Elections to the House of People (Lok Sabha) and all State Legislative Assemblies were held simultaneously in 1951-52.
• That practice continued in three subsequent General Elections held in the years 1957, 1962 and 1967.
• However, due to the premature dissolution of some Legislative Assemblies in 1968 and 1969, the cycle got disrupted.
• In 1970, the Lok Sabha was itself dissolved prematurely and fresh elections were held in 1971. Thus, the First, Second and Third Lok Sabha enjoyed full five-year terms.
• As a result of premature dissolutions and extension of terms of both the Lok Sabha and various State Legislative Assemblies, there have been separate elections to Lok Sabha and States Legislative Assemblies, and the cycle of simultaneous elections has been disturbed.

Holding simultaneous elections to all state assemblies as well as the Lok Sabha A full-fledged and ideal ‘one nation, one election’ model would call for elections to all three tiers — panchayats/urban local bodies, state assemblies and Lok Sabha — synchronised to be conducted together. It means a voter casts his vote for the Lok Sabha, his state assembly and local body on a single day and in a single polling booth. This will lead to the formation of a new Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabhas and local bodies with the same timeline.

Simultaneous polls require constitutional amendments by a two-thirds majority in Parliament and ratification by at least half the states. Articles 83, 85(2) (B), 174(2)(B) on the term of the House and dissolution of state assembles, besides Article 356 on President’s rule and Article 75(3) on collective responsively and no-confidence motion, will need amendments — a not so easy pathway given opposition presence across several states. The Representation of People Act, 1951 will also need to be amended. Ensuring adequate EVM availability and polling and security staff will also prove a challenge, though considerable work has been done on that over the years.

The concept needs to be debated mainly around five issues: Financial costs of conducting elections; cost of repeated administrative freezes; visible and invisible costs of repeatedly deploying security forces; campaign and finance costs of political parties; and the question of regional/smaller parties having a level playing field.