“One-nation, One-poll” panel urged the government to take a “one-time transitory measure”, which means to identify an “appointed date” immediately after Lok Sabha election and all state assemblies elected after the said date would have their tenures expire with the Parliament.
According to the panel, the proposed measure would synchronise the electoral cycles of the central and state governments and help conduct simultaneous elections.
The high-level committee, chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind, submitted its report on a concrete model for one nation-one election to President Draupadi Murmu on Thursday, after which the report got published on the website.
As the second step, the committee suggested that the municipality and panchayat elections be held within 100 days of the Lok Sabha and state elections.
If the new government elected after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls follows the proposed plan and immediately initiates the process, the first unified election could be held as early as 2029.
Meanwhile, all state assemblies due between June 2024 and May 2029 would see their terms expire along with the 18th Lok Sabha. As a result, some state assemblies would have less than five years term.
Major state assemblies including that of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, due for elections in 2026, or Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh in 2027, or Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana in 2028, will complete their terms alongside the 18th Lok Sabha in 2029 to achieve uniformity.
“The new government, once elected, will need to determine the starting point for implementing simultaneous elections. If the government aims to conduct simultaneous polls in 2029, preparations would commence immediately after this year’s Lok Sabha polls. Alternatively, if the government targets 2034, the appointed date would be identified soon after the 2029 Lok Sabha polls. The committee cannot recommend a specific starting point to the government; we have only proposed the formula,” a committee member told The Indian Express.
In case of no-confidence motion, a hung House or any other event of exception, the committee proposed that fresh elections should be conducted only for the remaining term.
To hold municipal and panchayat elections together with the general elections, the committee recommended an Article 324A, which states that Parliament may make a law to ensure the same.
It was also suggested that Article 325 of the Constitution be amended to enable preparation of a single electoral roll and single Elector’s Photo Identity Card (EPIC) by the Election Commission of India, coordinating with the State Election Commissions.
The committee comprising Home Minister Amit Shah, former Opposition Leader in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Finance Commission chairperson N K Singh, former Lok Sabha secretary-general Subhash C Kashyap, senior advocate Harish Salve and former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Sanjay Kothari, was set up on September 2, 2023,
The committee member Subhash C. Kashyap had introduced the concept of “constructive vote of no-confidence”, a functional model in Germany, where a no-confidence motion against a government could only be brought in with a positive vote of confidence in favour of an alternate leader or government.
However, the committee did not agree with Kashyap’s recommendation.
