New Delhi: The Ram Nath Kovind-led panel on ‘one nation, one election’ has recommended curtailment of the tenure of state assemblies to make it coterminous with the Lok Sabha to facilitate simultaneous elections. Constitutional amendments to this effect won’t need ratification by states, the panel led by the former President has said in its report submitted to President Droupadi Murmu Thursday.
To make it simpler, if, say 10 June, 2024, is the ‘appointed date’ for the provisions of ‘one nation, one election’ to come into effect, tenure of all State Legislative Assemblies reconstituted after that date will end with the Lok Sabha’s tenure in 2029. To clarify, ThePrint has used 10 June as the appointed date for elaboration; the panel hasn’t mentioned any date.
“…. After the General elections, when the House of the People is constituted, the President would by notification issued on the same date as the date of the first sitting of the house, bring into force the provisions for transition, and this date would be called the ‘Appointed date’. Once the transition provisions are brought into play, the tenure of all State Legislative Assemblies constituted in any election after the ‘Appointed date’ would come to an end on the expiry of the full term of the House of the People, irrespective of when an Assembly was constituted,” the Kovind panel said in its report.
This, the panel notes, would result in the House of the People and all the State Legislative Assemblies being ready for a simultaneous election at the end of this term. “Thereafter, the amendments proposed to the tenure of the House of the People and the State Legislative assemblies will make sure that the synchronisation is maintained.”
The report also states that if the House of the People or a State Legislative Assembly is dissolved sooner than its period of five years from the date appointed for its first meeting, a mid-term election would be held for reconstituting the House or the State Legislative Assembly as the case may be, but the term of the House or the State Legislative Assembly so constituted in a mid-term election, would be for the “remaining unexpired period” of its term.
“In this manner at the end of five years, the House of the People and all the State Legislative Assemblies would reach the end of their tenure at the same time, and be ready for a General election held simultaneously,” the report states.
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What happens in the event of hung House
The committee has recommended that in the event of a hung House, no confidence motion, or any such event, fresh elections may be held to constitute the new House.
“Where fresh elections are held for the House of the People, the tenure of the House of the People will be only for the unexpired term of the immediately preceding full term of the House of the People and the expiration of this period shall operate as a dissolution of the House,” the report states.
Where fresh elections are held for the assemblies, then such new assemblies unless sooner dissolved, shall continue up to the end of the full term of the Lok Sabha, it said.
Civic, rural elections within 100 days of general, state polls
The Kovind panel has recommended a two-step mechanism to “restore the cycle of simultaneous elections” – holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies in the first stage and then, the municipal and panchayat elections within a 100 days.
Pushing for simultaneous elections, the panel, which submitted its report to President Droupadi Murmu said, “… the loss of simultaneity in elections after the first two decades of India’s independence has had a baneful effect on the economy, polity and society. Initially, two elections were held every ten years. Now, several elections are being held every year. This casts a huge burden on the Government, businesses, workers, courts, political parties, candidates contesting elections, and civil society at large.”
The panel has recommended several amendments to the Constitution, including introduction of Article 324A for enabling simultaneous elections in panchayats and municipalities within 100 days of the general elections and the state assemblies, and amendment in Article 325 for enabling single electoral roll and single elector’s photo identity card, which shall be prepared by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in consultation with the State Election Commissions.
Since many of these amendments touch upon State subjects (Entry 5) of Schedule VII, Part IX, and Part IX A of the Constitution, ratification by the States will be required under Article 368(2), the report says.
“However, implementing step one, which is simultaneous elections to House of the People and State Legislative Assemblies, does not necessitate ratification by the States.”
Apart from Kovind, the committee includes Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Finance Commission chairperson N. K. Singh, former Lok Sabha Secretary-General Subhash C. Kashyap, senior advocate Harish Salve, and former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Sanjay Kothari.
Process for holding simultaneous elections
The Kovind-led committee has said that for the purpose of synchronisation of elections, the President may issue a notification on the date of the first sitting of the Lok Sabha after a general election and bring into force the provision of this Article, and that date of the notification shall be called the Appointed date.
The report states that the tenure of all state legislative assemblies, constituted by their elections after the appointed date and before the expiry of the full term of the House of the People, shall be only for the period ending up to the subsequent general election.
The committee has also recommended setting up of an implementation group to look into the execution of the recommendations of the one-nation, one-election panel.
Logistics of holding simultaneous elections
The panel recommended that for making logistical arrangements for the conduct of simultaneous general and state elections, the ECI may draw a plan and estimate in advance for the procurement of equipment, such as EVMs and VVPATs, deployment of polling personnel and security forces, and make other necessary arrangements.
Similarly, for the civic and rural elections, the State Election Commissions, in consultation with the ECI, may draw a plan and estimate in advance for the procurement of equipment, such as EVMs and VVPATs, deployment of polling personnel and security forces, and make other necessary arrangements, it said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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