NEW DELHI, Feb 14: The high-level committee on simultaneous polls headed by
former President Ram Nath Kovind submitted its report on 'one nation, one election'
to President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Thursday.
The committee reportedly recommended amending about five Articles of the Constitution
to make Lok Sabha, State Assembly, municipality and panchayat elections simultaneous
in the country. The report comprises of 18,626 pages in eight volumes.
The recommendation is to take effect in 2029.
The panel suggested that simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and State Assembly
elections can be held in the first phase, followed by a second phase in 100
days in which local body polls will be held.
For first simultaneous polls, tenure of all State Assemblies can be for period
ending up to subsequent Lok Sabha elections.
In case of hung House, no-confidence motion, or any such event, fresh polls
can be held for remainder of five-year term, Kovind panel has suggested.
The Election Commission will prepare one electoral roll and one voter ID (Constitutional
amendment needed to Article 325 for a single electoral roll). So also an addition
of Article 324A for simultaneous elections in panchayats and municipalities
will be needed.
The HLC said holding multiple elections every year places a significant burden
on various stakeholders, including the Government, businesses, workers, courts,
political parties, candidates, and civil society.
For simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies a simple
constitutional amendment may do, but for civic and panchayat elections States'
concurrence will be required - a constitutional amendment ratified by at least
half the States.
The committee on 'One Nation One Election' was set up on September 2 last year
to make suggestions on simultaneous elections after wide-ranging discussions
with stakeholders and experts.
The High Level Committee (HLC) included Home Minister Amit Shah, former Leader
of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Finance Commission
chairperson NK Singh, former Lok Sabha Secretary-General Subhash C Kashyap,
senior advocate Harish Salve, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Sanjay Kothari
and Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal.
The terms of reference of the committee included suggesting specific amendments
to the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act.
The proposal was made initially to reduce expenditure, avoid a policy paralysis
due to frequent activation of model code of conduct and reduce the burden of
providing manpower, apart from improving governance and speeding up development
process.
While recording the diverse views on simultaneous elections, the report also
mentions that of the 62 parties the committee approached, 47 responded - 32
in support of simultaneous elections and 15 against it.
The Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool
Congress, DMK and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) opposed the proposal,
while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Biju Janata Dal and Shiromani Akali
Dal, among others, supported it.
"Those who opposed simultaneous elections raised apprehensions that its adoption
could violate the basic structure of the Constitution, be anti-democratic and
anti-federal, marginalise regional parties, encourage the dominance of national
parties, and result in a presidential form of Government," the report said.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission is expected to announce the schedule of
the Lok Sabha election 2024 in the coming days. Therefore, the 'one-nation,
one-election' will have to wait until next time as the electoral reforms will
need constitutional changes and States' concurrence. The committee itself has
suggested 2029 for the electoral reforms.