One Nation, One Election
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''One Nation, One Election'' (abbreviated as : ONOE) is a proposal under consideration by the
Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...
to synchronise all elections in the country either on a single day or within a specific time frame, with an objective of cutting
election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...
cost. One of its most notable proposals is to simultaneously conduct elections to the
Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...
& state legislative assemblies of all 28
states State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
& 8
union territories Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own state government systems. Unlike states, Union Ter ...
. For the purpose of ONOE, MoS Law & Justice
Arjun Ram Meghwal Arjun Ram Meghwal (born 20 December 1953; ) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as Ministry of Law and Justice (India), minister of Law and Justice since 2024. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Meghwal formerly served as C ...
introduced The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 in
Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...
that the bill further to amend the Constitution of India on 17 December 2024, the purposed bill was referred to Joint Parliamentary Committeebr>on 19 December 2024.


History

The few general elections of post-Indian independence were held simultaneously with the state legislative assembly elections. While the practice continued till 1967, the system of simultaneous elections was disrupted in 1968 and 1969 due to the premature dissolution of some state assemblies. Since 2014,
Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...
, who was then
Chief Minister of Gujarat The chief minister of Gujarat is the head of government, chief executive of the government of the Indian state of Gujarat. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose Cabinet (government), council of ministers are Cabinet collective respons ...
, has been espousing simultaneous elections stating that it will reduce wastage of public money and will ensure the smooth flow of development work, which otherwise gets arrested when the
model code of conduct The Model Code of Conduct is a set of guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India for the conduct of political parties and candidates during elections. It is a set of norms which deal with matters including meetings, processions, election ...
is in force. In India’s immediate neighbourhood, simultaneous polls for the national parliament alongside state legislatures are held in
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
, while
Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
conducts simultaneous elections in all 3 levels of the government (parliamentary, provincial & local) since the adoption of its new constitution in 2015. Elsewhere,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
hold elections to all 3 levels of the government simultaneously, whereas
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
holds its parliamentary & provincial elections simultaneously with the EU elections. In August 2018, the
Law Commission of India The Law Commission of India is an executive body established by an order of the Government of India. The commission's function is to research and advise the government on legal reform, and is composition of legal experts, and headed by a retire ...
released its draft report on simultaneously holding all
direct elections Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they want to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen ...
in the country beginning from the panchayats upto the Lok Sabha within a given time period of a single year. In order to conduct such simultaneous elections, it said that there needs to be made appropriate amendments to the Constitution, the Representation of the People Act 1951, and the Rules of Procedure of Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. The commission also recommended that the amendments receive ratification from at least 50% of the states. With respect to the advantages of holding simultaneous polls, the commission said that it will lead to the saving of public money, reducing the strain on the administrative setup and security forces, timely implementation of government policies, and administrative focus on development activities rather than electioneering.


High-Level Committee

On 2 September 2023, the Government of India issued a notification constituting a high-level committee to examine the issue of simultaneous elections. This notification states: :"''WHEREAS elections to the House of the People and Legislative Assemblies of States were mostly held simultaneously from 1951-52 to 1967 after which this cycle got broken and now, elections are held almost every year and within a year too at different times, which result in massive expenditure by the Government and other stakeholders, diversion of security forces and other electoral officers engaged in such elections from their primary duties for significantly prolonged periods, disruption in developmental work on account of prolonged application of Model Code of Conduct, etc.;'' :''AND WHEREAS the Law Commission of India in its 170th Report on Reforms of the Electoral Laws observed that: "This cycle of elections every year, and in the out of season, should be put an end to. We must go back to the situation where the elections to Lok Sabha and all the Legislative Assemblies are held at once. It is true that we cannot conceive or provide for all the situations and eventualities that may arise whether on account of the use of Article 356 (which of course has come down substantially after the decision of Supreme Court in S.R. Bommai vs Union of India) or for other reasons, yet the holding of a separate election to a Legislative Assembly should be an exception and not the rule. The rule ought to be 'one election once in five years for Lok Sabha and all the Legislative Assemblies'.";'' :''AND WHEREAS the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice in its 79th Report on 'Feasibility of Holding Simultaneous Election to the House of People (Lok Sabha) and State Legislative Assemblies' submitted in December, 2015 has also examined the matter and recommended an alternative and practical method of holding simultaneous elections in two phases;'' :''NOW, THEREFORE, in view of the above and that in the national interest it is desirable to have simultaneous elections in the country, the Government of India hereby constitutes a High Level Committee ereinafter referred to as 'HLC'to examine the issue of simultaneous elections and make recommendations for holding simultaneous elections in the country.''" This committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of former President of India
Ram Nath Kovind Ram Nath Kovind ( ; born 1 October 1945) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the president of India from 2017 to 2022. He is the first person from Uttar Pradesh to serve as the president. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Pa ...
. Other members of this committee are: *
Amit Shah Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 32nd Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Minister of Home Affairs since May 2019 and the 1st Ministry of Co-operation, Minister of Co-operat ...
, Union Home Minister *
Arjun Ram Meghwal Arjun Ram Meghwal (born 20 December 1953; ) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as Ministry of Law and Justice (India), minister of Law and Justice since 2024. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Meghwal formerly served as C ...
, Union Law Minister *
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (born 2 April 1956) is an Indian politician who served as the leader of the Indian National Congress in the 17th Lok Sabha and from 2019 to 2024 and the Member of Parliament from Berhampore from 1999 to 2024. He has ser ...
, parliamentary leader of the
Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...
(the largest party in the Opposition) in Lok Sabha *
Ghulam Nabi Azad Ghulam Nabi Azad (born 7 March 1949) is an Indian politician who served as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha between 2014 and 2021. He also served as the Chief Minister of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir from 2005 to 2008. On 26 Septemb ...
, former Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha * NK Singh, Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission * Dr Subhash C Kashyap, former Secretary General of Lok Sabha *
Harish Salve Harish Salve KC is an Indian senior advocate who practices at the Supreme Court of India. He served as the Solicitor General of India from 1 November 1999 to 3 November 2002. He also fought the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav at the International C ...
, senior advocate of the
Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
* Sanjay Kothari, former
Chief Vigilance Commissioner Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) is an Indian governmental body created in 1964 to address governmental Political corruption, corruption. In 2003, the Parliament enacted a law conferring statutory status on the CVC. It has the status of an ...
On 14 March 2024, former President Ram Nath Kovind submitted the 18,000 pages long final report prepared by the committee to the incumbent President of India,
Draupadi Murmu Droupadi Murmu (born Durgi Biranchi Tudu; 20 June 1958) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the president of India since 2022. She won the 2022 presidential election as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate. She is the first ...
. Among many things, the report suggested * Setting up an 'Appointed Date' after the upcoming general elections to mark the new electoral cycle from 2029. This will require extending the term of those state legislative assemblies which are due to expire before this date & prematurely dissolve others whose 5-year term extend beyond this date. * A total of 18 amendments to the Constitution, most importantly Article 83 (concerning duration of the Houses of the Parliament) & Article 172 (concerning duration of the state legislative assemblies) are required. * States are required to ratify amendments to Article 324A (to allow simultaneous elections in panchayats & municipal bodies) & Article 325 (to empower the
Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...
for creating a common electoral roll & voter IDs with the help of the state election commissions) passed by the Parliament. The Committee also sought legal advice from 4 former
CJIs The Criminal Justice Information Services Division (or CJIS) is a division of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) located in Clarksburg, Harrison County, West Virginia. The CJIS was established in February 1992 and is the lar ...
, 3 former Chief Justices of state High Courts & 1 former CEC. 21,558 responses from the public were also recorded, out of which the Law Ministry reported that 81% were in favour of the proposal.


Reactions

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister
Pralhad Joshi Pralhad Venkatesh Joshi (born 27 November 1962) is an Indian politician who is the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and the Minister of New and Renewable Energy since 2024. He was also the Union Minister of Parliame ...
said that once the committee submits its report, it will be discussed in the public domain and Parliament. He said "''There is nothing to be nervous about, as discussions will be held. We are the world's largest democracy and we are known as the mother of democracy. This is the evolution of democracy in the mother of democracy."''
Chief Election Commissioner of India The Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) heads the Election Commission of India, a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections. An election commissioner is appointed by the President of India on the recommendatio ...
Rajiv Kumar said that the Commission is ready to conduct elections as per legal provisions. Many opposition parties have vociferously opposed the plan, citing that this would be disadvantageous for the multiple regional parties of India & would also require nationwide abolition of the provision of moving the
no-confidence motion A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fit ...
. Many smaller regional opposition parties described the move as an attempt by Modi's Hindu right wing
Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...
of consolidating power by moving towards a
presidential form of government Presidential may refer to: * "Presidential" (song), a 2005 song by YoungBloodZ * Presidential Airways (charter), an American charter airline based in Florida * Presidential Airways (scheduled), an American passenger airline active in the 1980s * ...
at the cost of eroding the current federal system of governance & to convert the country from a
multi-party democracy In political science, a multi-party system is a political system where more than two meaningfully-distinct political parties regularly run for office and win elections. Multi-party systems tend to be more common in countries using proportional r ...
into a
one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or en ...
. The opposition parties have also stated that this move will reduce accountability of the government to the public. The Indian National Congress quipped that Modi was preparing for a 'One Nation, No Election' scenario through this proposal. Calling his inclusion a "total eyewash", Congress leader
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (born 2 April 1956) is an Indian politician who served as the leader of the Indian National Congress in the 17th Lok Sabha and from 2019 to 2024 and the Member of Parliament from Berhampore from 1999 to 2024. He has ser ...
said he cannot be part of the committee, as the "terms of reference" of the committee "have been prepared in a manner to guarantee its conclusions." Congress leader
P. Chidambaram Palaniappan Chidambaram (born 16 September 1945), better known as P. Chidambaram, is an Indian politician and lawyer who currently serves as Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. He served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee o ...
said that the government was accelerating the process with the appointment of a "puppet committee." He said that by combining national and state elections, the BJP hopes to win the Lok Sabha poll with a two-third majority and win enough states in order to implement on ground sweeping changes to the Constitution. Former law minister
Kapil Sibal Kapil Sibal (born 8 August 1948) is an Indian lawyer and politician. A designated Senior Advocate, he is currently the President of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA). He has represented several high-profile cases in the Supreme Court of In ...
said that "One Nation One Election will be the downfall of the Modi government". He said the Modi government is playing with fire and they will not simply singe their hands but destroy the government.


Future

In the 2024 general elections, the BJP led NDA was decreased from 353 to 293 seats in the Lok Sabha, with the BJP itself being reduced from 303 to 240 seats. The
INDIA India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
led by the Indian National Congress & consisting of regional parties like SP, AITC, DMK &
RJD The Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD; translation: National People's Party) is an Indian political party, mainly based in the state of Bihar. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav. The party's support base has traditionally been Othe ...
which are opposed to simultaneous polls, won 233 seats. Since amendments to the Constitution required for implementing simultaneous polls can be done only after securing at least two-thirds
supermajority A supermajority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority rules in a democracy can help to prevent a majority from eroding fun ...
in both Houses of the Parliament (362 in Lok Sabha and 167 in Rajya Sabha), very little to no progress on this proposal is to be made for the upcoming future. Despite this, on 18 September 2024, the Modi cabinet approved the 'One Nation, One Election' bill which was scheduled to be brought before the Parliament on the 2024 Winter session. The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 17 December 2024. A division vote was followed, where 269 members supported the move and 198 opposed it. The Opposition INDIA bloc strongly objected to the Bill, arguing that the government failed to secure the required two-thirds majority for such measures. However, parliamentary procedures suggest that a special majority may not be required for introducing Constitutional Amendment Bills.


JPC Members

The Lok Sabha approved a 39-member joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to examine The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the amendments to the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, the twin bills that aim to usher in simultaneous state and national elections. The panel, earlier planned for 31 members, will now have 39 members after some smaller parties met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and demanded their inclusion in the important committee. There are 27 Lok Sabha MPs and 12 Rajya Sabha lawmakers in it.


See also

* All India Judicial Service *
Combined Approval Voting Combined approval voting (CAV) is an electoral system where each voter may express approval, disapproval, or indifference toward each candidate. The winner is the candidate with the highest score, which is determined by subtracting the number of ap ...
*
National Judicial Appointments Commission The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) was a proposed body which would have been responsible for the recruitment, appointment and transfer of judicial officers, legal officers and legal employees under the government of India an ...
* None Of The Above (NOTA) in India *
Premiership of Narendra Modi The premiership of Narendra Modi began 26 May 2014 with his swearing-in as the prime minister of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He succeeded Manmohan Singh of the Indian National Congress (INC). Modi's first cabinet consisted of 45 ministe ...
* Uniform Civil Code


Notes


References


External links

{{Wikinews Political controversies in India Controversies in India Elections in India