Will simultaneous elections be possible in 2029

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Ram Nath Kovind committee report on ‘One Nation, One Election’, thereby moving a step closer to holding simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha, state Assemblies and local bodies in the country.

The concept of simultaneous elections, said to be close to the heart of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is closer to becoming a reality.

However, the Cabinet decision has come in for widespread criticism from the opposition leaders, who termed it a move designed to destroy federalism, compromise democracy and spell doom for regional parties.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, however, retorted that a large number of political parties across the political spectrum actually supported this initiative.

What next

Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said the BJP-led NDA government will implement ONOE during its current tenure — in other words, it may be in place for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.

Implementing it would involve multiple legal steps and several other circuitous processes. While the Centre is “clear in intent of seeing it through before 2029 General Elections”, sources said it also wants to “build consensus” and “take everyone on board” before that.

The recommendations require multiple constitutional amendments in different Acts, and also political support. Therefore, before bringing the matter to Parliament, the government may want to build consensus among various entities, keeping in mind the BJP's numbers in the two Houses.

The recommendations

Basically, the report recommends simultaneous elections, first for the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies and then rural and urban local bodies within 100 days to implement. This would require multiple amendments to various provisions of the Constitution and other legal processes.

The stated aim of this major electoral change is to streamline and improve the electoral process, reduce costs and disruptions to governance, and remove policy paralysis due to frequent elections. It was also a part of the BJP’s Lok Sabha election manifesto.

Opposition, politics

According to the Kovind report, 32 political parties supported the simultaneous poll move so that the country could get out of being in a perpetual election mode, while 15 opposed it. As many as 80% respondents supported the proposal — a big majority supported change, clearly.

However, soon after the Cabinet’s decision, many opposition parties criticised the move, with the Congress calling it “impractical in a democracy” and an attempt to “divert attention from real issues”. Also, as per former Union Minister P Chidambaram, the Modi government did not have the numbers in Parliament to push through the constitutional amendments required.

The Samajwadi Party, among others, suggested an all-party discussion on the issue, while AIMIM chief Asadudddin Owaisi called it a “solution in search of a problem” and one that “destroys federalism and compromises democracy, which are part of the basic structure of the constitution”.

For Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, it was a “hidden agenda aimed at weakening India’s federal structure and granting the central government absolute power”.

Opposition leaders and regional parties also accused the ruling BJP of pushing for change as it was “not doing well in Assembly elections.”

Not new concept

The idea of holding simultaneous polls is not a new one. Elections in independent India were held simultaneously on three occasions, before the premature dissolution of some Legislative Assemblies around 1968-1969 disrupted the practice.

As far as the BJP is concerned, PM Modi has always favoured the concept, terming continuous election cycles a financial burden and hindrance to development due to the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct. Simultaneous elections will help parties in power focus on governance instead of being constantly in the election mode, he has said.

BJP insiders believe that opposition parties realise this and were “opposing ONOE only for the sake of opposing because PM Modi had brought it”.

In fact, they claim that the negative political effects of the move, if any, will be felt more by national parties because in simultaneous elections, national issues will overshadow/prevail over local affairs. However, regional parties argue that they do well when the focus is on regional/local issues.

Challenges

In any case, to implement this major change will be a mammoth exercise involving building consensus among stakeholders, passing through various parliamentary procedures, followed by endless exercises involving logistics.

An implementation group will be formed to take forward the recommendations, which require multiple constitutional amendments in different Acts. It may also have to be sent to a Parliamentary committee for greater scrutiny.

Logistically, the decision would involve acquiring crores of EVMs and VVPAT machines. There will also have to be a common electoral rolls for all elections and voter ID cards prepared by the ECI in consultation with the state election authorities.

Holding simultaneous elections would involve curtailing or extending the terms of existing Assemblies in the states in order to bring them in line with the Lok Sabha election.

An “appointed date” has been suggested and the Assemblies formed after that date will last only for the period up to the next General Elections in 2029. In other words, states with elections after that date will have shorter tenures.

For example, a state which holds an election in 2027 will have that particular’s party in rule only until 2029. This won’t gladden the hearts of the legislators and ministers whose terms would come to a sudden end.