'One Nation, One Election': Modi govt accepts Kovind panel's recommendations on simultaneous polls

The high-level committee had recommended simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies as the first step followed by synchronised local body polls within 100 days. Placing the report before the Cabinet was a part of the law ministry's 100-day agenda.

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday accepted a report by a high-level committee headed by former President Ramnath Kovind on holding simultaneous elections for Parliament, state assemblies, and local bodies. The recommendations of the ‘One Nation One Election’ committee, which also has union home minister Amit Shah as member, will be implemented in two phases.  

In the first phase, the government will seek to conduct Lok Sabha and Assembly elections simultaneously, and in the second phase, aim to hold local body elections, including panchayat and municipalities elections, within 100 days of general elections. Detailed discussions throughout the country will be initiated to set a roadmap for the implementation. 

“The Cabinet has accepted the recommendations of the High-Level Committee on Simultaneous Elections. I compliment our former President, Shri Ram Nath Kovind Ji for spearheading this effort and consulting a wide range of stakeholders. This is an important step towards making our democracy even more vibrant and participative,” prime minister Modi posted in a post on X.

Making the announcement in a briefing after the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, union minister for railways and I&B Ashwini Vaishnaw said that a common electoral roll will be made which will be applicable for all elections. “Apart from the common electoral roll, an implementation group will be formed to take forward the recommendations of the Kovind panel,” Vaishnaw said.

Vaishnaw said that a huge majority of the respondents in a survey conducted by the Committee supported the move. “The opposition might start feeling internal pressure on this since over 80% of the respondents who responded during the consultation  process have expressed their support, especially the youth, who are very much in favour of this,” Vaishnaw added.

In a post on X, Shah welcomed the move, “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 high-level committee was formed exactly a year ago, on September 2, and as members had then Congress Lok Sabha floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission NK Singh, former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash C Kashyap, senior advocate Harish Salve and former chief vigilance commissioner Sanjay Kothari, besides Kovind and Shah. Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal was a special invitee of the committee, while Niten Chandra, secretary of the department of legal affairs, was the secretary.

The committee, in its recommendations, said that the government should have a legally tenable mechanism to conduct simultaneous elections, and that the President must notify the first sitting of a newly-elected Lok Sabha. To kickstart the process, any assembly whose tenure expires before the new Lok Sabha is formed or where elections are held after the first sitting of the new Lok Sabha will continue till the subsequent Parliamentary polls as a one-time measure. After this one-time measure, all Lok Sabha and assembly polls will be held simultaneously.

In the case of a hung house or no-confidence motion in a Lok Sabha, fresh elections will be held and the tenure of the House will be “only for the unexpired term of the immediately preceding full term of the House”. And when fresh polls take place in similar circumstances in state assemblies, then they will continue till the end of the existing Lok Sabha’s term, unless they are dissolved.

In all, the panel has proposed over 18 constitutional amendments in its 18,626-page report. 

This is not the first instance of simultaneous elections in India – they were held between 1951 and 1967. The Law Commission, in its 170th report in 1999 had recommended that only one poll be held to Lok Sabha and all legislative assemblies every five years. Additionally, a Parliamentary Committee, in its 79th report in 2015 had suggested methods for simultaneous elections in two phases.