As all political parties in the country, including the ruling BJP are continuously compelled to be in an election mode affecting governance and incurring Rs 4,500 crore as election expenditure, a Parliamentary panel headed by BJP MP Bhupender Yadav has initiated the process to come out with recommendations, entailing major changes in legal provisions, to hold one-time lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the country.
According to sources, the Parliamentary standing committee on personnel, public grievances, law and justice, which has a number of tasks at hand, is currently examining the issue of simultaneous polls in the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had again pitched for it recently.
The panel with 10 Rajya Sabha and 20 lok Sabha members has held four meetings since it was constituted on September 1, this year. It has been collecting views from different stakeholders and has visited various States in this pursuit, they said. The previous committee, headed by Congress MP (RS) Anand Sharma, had not addressed the issue of simultaneous polls.
It is felt that to begin with the polls could also be held in two phases first in the East and West and secondly in North and South India. “A lot of work has to go into it. legal and may be Constitutional changes would be required to implement the simultaneous elections,” sources said, adding, “It is not happening too soon.”
Besides Yadav, Dr K Keshava Rao (TRS), D Raja (CPI), Swapan Dasgupta (nominated), Vivek K Tankha (Congress), Prabhat Jha (BJP), Tiruchi Silva (DMK), Majeed Memon (NCP) are the panel members from Rajya Sabha and Meenakashi lekhi (BJP), Tariq Anwar (NCP), Pralhad Joshi (BJP), Bhagwant Mann (Aam Admi Party), Kalyan Berjee (AITC), BV Nayak (Congress), Rajiv Pratap Rudy (BJP), Vincent Pala (Congress), Udhyankumar (AIDMK) and Dr Vara Prasadarao Velagapalli (AIADMK) are among other members from the lok Sabha.
The Yadav-headed panel will now pick up threads from the Parliamentary committee which scrutinised in detail ‘Feasibility of Holding Simultaneous Elections to the House of People (lok Sabha) and State legislative Assemblies’ and presented its report to the lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on December 17, 2015. This panel of which Yadav was also a member was chaired by Dr EM Sudarsana Natchiappan.
The committee felt that one-time poll across the country was not possible immediately but progress towards that end could be made by six-month advancement of polls for the lok Sabha or State Assemblies.
“The Committee does not feel that simultaneous election in every five years cannot be held in near future but slowly it would reach in stages for which tenure of some of the State legislative Assemblies need to be curtailed or extended. Extension of term of legislature is not permissible except under proclamation of emergency. But election to lok Sabha/State legislative Assemblies can be held six months before under Sections 14 & 15 of the Representation of People Act, 1951,” it had said.
The panel had quoted the law Commission of India in its 170th report having suggested that election of some of legislative Assemblies where term is ending six months after the general election to the lok Sabha can be clubbed with it but election result can be declared at the end of their tenure. This can be possible with the cooperation of political parties which represents political will of the people.
The Natchiappan Committee noted that out of 16 lok Sabha as many as seven elected in 1969, 1977, 1980, 1984, 1996, 1998 and 1999, witnessed pre-mature dissolution due to emergence of coalition Government.
The Committee recommended an alternative method of simultaneous elections which involves holding of elections in two phases. It envisaged conducting elections of some legislative Assemblies at mid-term of the lok Sabha and remaining with the end of tenure of the lok Sabha.
Election Commission has suggested that (in order to avoid premature dissolution) any ‘no-confidence motion’ moved against the Government in office should also necessarily include a further ‘confidence motion’ in favour of a Government to be headed by a named individual as the future Prime Minister and voting should take place for the two motions together.
The Commission said in spite of the above arrangement, if there is a situation where dissolution of the lok Sabha cannot be avoided, then there could be a provision for the President to carry out the administration of the country, on the aid and advice of his Council of Ministers to be appointed by him till, the time the next House is constituted at the prescribed time.
Presently, the cost of holding separate elections for the lok Sabha and legislative Assemblies of States and UTs is pegged at Rs 4,500 crore by the Commission.