In pursuance of its election commitment, the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre accepted and cleared the proposal of a high-level committee that has advocated holding Lok Sabha polls simultaneously with state polls.
The committee studying the proposal for One Nation One Election was headed by former president Ramnath Kovind, and it submitted its 18,626-page report to the President in March this year. The bill to this effect is likely to be introduced in the upcoming winter session of Parliament.
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the One Nation One Poll would be implemented in two phases, stressing that the proposal received support from a large number of parties.
“The opposition might start feeling internal pressure as more than 80% of respondents who responded during the consultant process have given their positive support, especially the youth, they are very much in favour of this,” Vaishnaw said.
Several opposition parties, including the Congress, AAP and Shiv Sena (UBT), have opposed simultaneous polls, alleging that it would benefit the ruling party at the Centre. The NDA’s allies like JD(U) and Chirag Paswan’s party have backed the idea.
“A common electoral roll will be made for all elections… an implementation group will be formed to take forward the recommendations of the Kovind panel,” Vaishnaw further said.
The Modi 2.0 government had constituted the panel to examine the feasibility of simultaneous elections, one of the key promises made by the BJP in its Lok Sabha poll manifesto.
Calling it a landmark electoral reform, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, “This reflects PM Modi’s iron will to bolster our democracy through clean and financially efficient elections and accelerate economic growth through more productive allocation of resources.”
The panel has suggested simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies as the first step. For this, the approval of states is not required for the constitutional amendment.
The next step involves synchronising elections to municipalities and the panchayats with polls to Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. This will be done in such a way that local body elections are held within 100 days of general elections. This will, however, require ratification by not less than one-half of the states.
The panel has recommended as many as 18 constitutional amendments for One Nation One Election to become a reality.
In recent weeks, the BJP has intensified its pitch for a One Nation One Election, which also found a mention by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech.
Saying that simultaneous polls were the “need of the hour”, PM Modi 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.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “We don’t stand with this. One Nation One Election cannot work in a democracy. Elections need to be held as and when required if we want our democracy to survive.”
Previously, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had also opposed the concept of simultaneous polls.
The AAP also was swift to dismiss the proposal as another “jumla” of the BJP, saying there was no consultation with the opposition.
“They were not able to conduct the elections of Maharashtra, Jharkhand, J&K, Haryana together. We are asking them to hold Delhi polls with Maharashtra and Jharkhand, prove yourself first,” AAP’s Sandeep Pathak said.
“If the government collapses in any state in the middle of its tenure, will the BJP run the state through its gundagardi,” he further said.
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