‘One Nation, One Election’ To Come In This Tenure Of Government: Sources

The idea of One Country One Election — under discussion for long in the corridors of parliament — will be implemented during the current tenure of the Narendra Modi government, sources have said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had mentioned this in his Independence Day speech this year and the government is committed to implementing it, sources said.

The government has already formed a committee under the chairmanship of former President Ramnath Kovind, which has submitted its report.  The panel has recommended simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies as a first step, which would be followed by synchronised local body polls within 100 days.

It is likely that the Law Commission will also recommend it soon. The Commission is likely to recommend that all three tiers of government — Lok Sabha, state assemblies and local bodies like municipalities and panchayats — have simultaneous polls starting 2029 and a provision for unity government in cases like hung house or no-confidence motion.

In his Independence Day address last month, PM Modi had made a strong pitch for “One nation, one election”, contending that frequent polls were creating hurdles in the country’s progress.

“The nation has to come forward for ‘one nation, one election’,” he had said.

The BJP had also promised “One Nation One Election” in its manifesto and government sources said they are hopeful that there will be consensus among all parties to implement it, sources said.

The Opposition, though, has staunchly opposed the idea sofar, red-flagging the constitutional issues.

The challenges to its implementation would involve syncing electoral cycles with minimum disruption to governance and there is no clarity dealing with the breaks that would be involved in bringing all states in the same timeline. There is also a marked lack of clarity in the way forward in cases involving dissolution of Houses, President’s Rule, or even a hung Assembly or Parliament.

Regional parties have pointed out their limited resources could hamper them from highlighting local issues to voters, in the face of the din over the Lok Sabha election.

Another area of concern is the recurring cost of procuring EVMS, or electronic voting machines. This, the poll panel has said, will be nearly Rs 10,000 crore every 15 years.