The Ram Nath Kovind committee, formed by the Centre to explore the feasibility of “One Nation, One Election” for holding the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections simultaneously, has reportedly initiated this task by currently studying the Election Commission (EC) suggestions on the same and a Department-related Parliament Standing Committee on Law and Personnel report on the “Feasibility of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies” in December 2015. This report had cited the suggestions made by the poll panel.
As part of the Kovind committee, the Centre appointed eight members on Saturday. According to sources, Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and former member of Parliament Ghulam Nabi Azad are part of it. Other members include former Finance Commission chairman NK Singh, former Lok Sabha Secretary-General Subash Kashyap, senior advocate Harish Salve, and former CVC Sanjay Kothari. Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will attend the meetings as a special invitee, as per the Government notification.
The election watchdog had suggested that India adopt the ‘One Nation One Poll’ model. In the event of a vacancy caused by a collapse of the Government either at the Centre or State, it would have to be filled by an alternative Government for the remainder of the five-year term. This can happen either by the Opposition proving its majority through a vote of confidence or by mid-term polls to elect a Government for a partial term, as stated by the EC.
“The terms of all State Legislative Assemblies should also normally come to an end on the date on which the term of the Lok Sabha is expiring. That may also mean, to begin with as a one-time measure, that the term for the existing Legislative Assemblies will have to be either extended beyond five years or curtailed so that fresh elections can be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha election,” the report of the Parliamentary panel said based on the poll panel’s advice.
Proposing amendments to the Constitution, the EC suggested that the term of the Lok Sabha would normally commence and expire on a particular date (and not on the date on which it completes five years from the date of its first sitting). The period for the general election to constitute the new House should be so determined that the Lok Sabha could commence its term on the predetermined date.
The poll panel had also suggested that in case the dissolution of the House cannot be avoided, then fresh elections can be held if the remainder of the term is long. In such a case, the term of the House should be for the rest of what would have been the original term. To avoid the premature dissolution of the Lok Sabha, any no-confidence motion against the Government should “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 EC had said while sharing its suggestions on simultaneous polls.
The reports also said if the remainder of the term of the Lok Sabha is not long, there could be a provision for the President to carry out the administration of the country on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers to be appointed by him/her until the next House is constituted at the prescribed time. It had suggested a similar arrangement for State legislative Assemblies. If no party is able to form a Government after elections, and another poll becomes necessary, the term of the House in such case after the fresh election should be only for the remainder of what would have been the original term, as suggested by the poll panel.
Similarly, if a Government has to resign for some reason and an alternative is not possible, then provision can be considered for a fresh election if the remainder of the term is a comparatively longer period, and in other cases, rule by the Governor or President’s Rule.
The EC said two windows of one-and-a-half months each may be fixed for holding all by-elections that become due in a particular year. As an alternative, the EC said provisions to have all elections falling due in a year together in a particular period of the year can be considered. In this arrangement, the advantage would be that the general elections to various Legislative Assemblies falling due in a year will be held together and not at different periods in the year. In the year in which the Lok Sabha election is due, all the Assembly elections of that year may also be held, the poll panel said.
The EC also pointed out several difficulties that might be encountered in conducting simultaneous elections. The main issue highlighted by it was that the simultaneous conduct of elections would require a large-scale purchase of Electronic Voting Machines and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines. For conducting simultaneous elections, the Commission expects that a total of Rs 9284.15 crore will be needed for the procurement of EVMs and VVPATs. The machines would also need to be replaced every 15 years, which would again entail expenditure. Further, storing these machines would increase the warehousing cost, as cited by the standing committee based on EC’s inputs.