Keeping with its commitment, the Centre is all set to table the report of the former President Ram Nath Kovind led high-level committee on “one nation, one election” soon in the Cabinet to decide the future course of action. After the approval of the Cabinet, a Bill in this regard is likely to be tabled in Parliament during the Monsoon Session in July which will be a full-fledged first Session of Narendra Modi's third tenure as the Prime Minister in the BJP-led NDA regime. The annual Budget is also to be brought in beginning of the Monsoon session.
Sources said the Union Law Ministry is working “overtime” on it which is also part of the 100-day agenda of the Legislative Affairs Department which was set ahead of the Lok Sabha elections by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Before going to polls in its last Cabinet of the second tenure in March, Modi had directed all Union Ministries and departments to draw up a 100-day agenda for the next Government.
In the midst of election campaign in May, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the NDA, if voted to power for the third term, will implement the “one nation-one election” policy. "The elections for the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats are being held simultaneously in Andhra Pradesh. We will fulfill our commitment of one nation one election in the next five years. One nation, one election will save a lot of time and money," Singh had said.
The Kovind Committee has recommended a two-step approach to lead to the simultaneous elections. As the first step, simultaneous elections will be held for the House of the People and the State Legislative Assemblies. In the second step, elections to the Municipalities and the Panchayats will be synchronised with the House of the People and the State Legislative Assemblies in such a way that Municipalities and Panchayats elections are held within 100 days of holding elections to the House of the People and the State Legislative Assemblies.
Separately, the Law Commission is also likely to come up soon with its own report on simultaneous polls, of which Modi has been a strong votary. Sources said the Law Commission is likely to recommend holding simultaneous polls for all three tiers of Government —Lok Sabha, State Assemblies and local bodies — starting from 2029 and a provision for a unity Government in cases like hung house or no-confidence motion.
The Kovind panel had also proposed setting up an 'Implementation Group' to look into the execution of the recommendations made by the committee. "Simultaneous polls will help save resources, spur development and social cohesion, deepen "foundations of the democratic rubric" and help realise the aspirations of "India, that is Bharat", the panel had said.
It has also recommended the preparation of a common electoral roll and voter ID cards by the Election Commission of India in consultation with state election authorities.
At present, the Election Commission of India is responsible for Lok Sabha and assembly polls, while polls for municipalities and panchayats are managed by state election commissions. The panel has recommended 18 constitutional amendments, most of which will not need ratification by state assemblies. However, these would require certain constitutional amendment bills that would need to be passed by Parliament. Some proposed changes regarding the single electoral roll and single voter ID card would need ratification by at least half of the states.
The Kovind Report comprises of 18,626 pages which is an outcome of extensive consultations with stakeholders, experts and research work. The other members of the Committee were Amit Shah, Union Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Cooperation, Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, N.K. Singh, former Chairman, 15th Finance Commission, Dr. Subhash C. Kashyap, former Secretary General, Lok Sabha, Harish Salve, Senior Advocate, and Sanjay Kothari, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner. Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Law and Justice was a Special Invitee and Dr. Niten Chandra was the Secretary of the HLC.
The Committee held extensive consultations to understand the views of different stakeholders. 47 political parties submitted their views and suggestions, out of which 32 supported simultaneous elections. Many political parties had extensive discussions with the HLC on this matter besides 21,558 responses received from citizens from all over India of which 80 per cent of the respondents supported simultaneous elections.
Experts on law such as four former Chief Justices of India and 12 former Chief Justices of major High Courts, four former Chief Election Commissioners of India, eight State Election Commissioners, and Chairman, Law Commission of India were also invited by the Committee for interaction in person. Views of the Election Commission of India were also sought. Apex business organizations like the CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM and eminent economists were also consulted to present their views on the economic repercussions of asynchronous elections.
