The Narendra Modi-led Government is likely to introduce two Bills in the Lok Sabha paving way for simultaneous elections ‘One Nation, One Election’, on Tuesday. The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024, the legislation seeks to synchronise elections for the Lok Sabha, State Assemblies, and possibly local bodies.  While the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill 2024, is to amend the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will introduce the Bills in the Parliament. 

The BJP has issued a three-line whip to all its Lok Sabha MPs to be present in the house on December 17, 2024. The Union Cabinet has already approved two Bills to facilitate simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, though the decision on local body polls has been deferred for now. 

According to the statement of objects and reasons of the Constitution ((One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024), the Bill proposes to insert a new article 82A (Simultaneous elections to the House of the People and all Legislative Assemblies) and to amend article 83 (Duration of Houses of Parliament), article 172 (Duration of State Legislatures) and article 327 (Power of Parliament to make provision with respect to elections to Legislatures).

According to Section 2 sub clause 5 of the Constitution (129th) Amendment Bill, “If the Election Commission is of the opinion that the elections to any Legislative Assembly cannot be conducted along with the general election to the House of the People, it may make a recommendation to the President, to declare by an order, that the election to that Legislative Assembly may be conducted at a later date.”

The General Elections to the House of the People and all State Legislative Assemblies were held simultaneously in the years 1951-52, 1957, 1962 and 1967. However, due to premature dissolution of some Legislative Assemblies in 1968 and 1969, the cycle of holding Polls simultaneously with the House of the People got disrupted. The Law Commission of India in its 170th report, on “Reform of the Electoral Laws”, inter alia, suggested that holding separate elections for State Legislative Assemblies should be an exception rather than the rule.

The Bill, inter alia, provides that after its enactment, a notification is to be issued by the President on the date of the first sitting of the House of the People after a general election, and that date of the notification shall be called the appointed date.

According to the Bill, the tenure of the House of the People shall be five years from that appointed date. The tenure of all Legislative Assemblies, constituted by elections to the Legislative Assemblies after the appointed date and before the expiry of the full term of the House of the People, shall come to an end on the expiry of the full term of the House of the People.

Thereafter, all general elections to the House of the People and all Legislative Assemblies shall be held together simultaneously. In case of dissolution of the House of the People or a Legislative Assembly, sooner than the full term of the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly, the term of the House or Assembly constituted pursuant to elections shall be for the unexpired term of the House or the Assembly.

The Bill further states the Department related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances and Law and Justice, in its 79th report had also examined the feasibility of holding simultaneous elections to the House of the People (Lok Sabha) and State Legislative Assemblies and recommended an alternative and practicable methods of holding simultaneous elections is needed and expressed confidence that a solution would be found to reduce the frequency of electoral processes.

The Bill seeks to insert a new article in the Constitution and amend three articles to put in place the mechanism to hold simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state  Assemblies.

The motivation behind this shift is multifaceted. Simultaneous elections can mitigate the frequency of the Model Code of Conduct disrupting development projects across the country, streamline the election process, and lower the logistical and financial pressures that repeated elections impose on administrative machinery and public resources.

While the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 proposes to make consequential amendments in section 5 of the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, Section 5 of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 and section 17 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 to align the holding of simultaneous elections along with the House of the People and State Legislative Assemblies.

“A High Level Committee under the Chairmanship of Ram Nath Kovind, former President of India was constituted on 2nd September, 2023 to examine the issue of simultaneous elections and make recommendations for holding simultaneous elections in the country. After due deliberation and examination of all the material available on record and the consultations held on the subject, the Committee submitted its recommendations to the Hon’ble President on 14th March, 2024 for holding of simultaneous election to the House of the People and all Legislative Assemblies at the first stage. The Government has accepted the recommendations of the High Level Committee.

“The Committee recommended that in the first stage elections to the House of the People and the Legislative Assemblies, including Legislative Assemblies of Union territories should be held simultaneously. For implementation of the recommendations of the High Level Committee at the first stage, a Bill, namely, the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 is proposed, providing for holding of simultaneous elections to the House of the People and the Legislative Assemblies of the Union territories,” according to the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill.