Currently, the ECI can conduct elections under Article 324 of the Constitution and seek extension to complete the elections through Section 153 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
Former Lok Sabha Secretary General PDT Acharya said that including these powers in the Constitution would make it difficult to amend them in the future, as two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha is required to pass constitutional amendments.
The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024, will allow simultaneous elections for the lower house of Parliament, state assemblies and local bodies. However, the ECI, at its discretion, can write to the President to postpone state elections if it deems appropriate, as shown in the review of the draft ‘One Nation, One Election’ Bill. peppermint,
According to Acharya, the amendment marks another major change in the existing process, in which the ECI has been asked to write to the President to postpone assembly elections, as the Governor usually takes the final decision.
Certainly, the Representation of the People Act and Article 324 are silent on whether the ECI should write to the Governor or the President. However, the Supreme Court has said that when the ECI proposes a direction to the government, it has to take the consent of the government before implementing that direction.
Meanwhile, even if the ECI decides to postpone the state elections, the tenure of the state government will end with that of the Lok Sabha. The draft states that if the Lok Sabha or a state assembly is dissolved before the end of its term, the new government will rule only for the remaining part of the five-year term.
Emailed queries to the Prime Minister’s Office, Cabinet Secretariat, ECI and Ministry of Law and Justice did not elicit any response till press time.
Currently, the ECI is responsible for conducting Lok Sabha and state assembly elections, while state election commissions conduct local body elections.
Following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the ECI postponed the parliamentary elections by three weeks. Latest, it postponed the 2020 elections for 18 Rajya Sabha seats due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Why one nation, one election?
The Centre’s plan to hold simultaneous elections is based on the work of a high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, which had promoted the idea of allowing ECI powers to postpone state elections by proposing a constitutional amendment.
The Kovind Committee gave the green signal to the policy change because scattered elections drain the public purse and create policy paralysis.
“Elections, by their very nature, entail substantial costs in terms of manpower participation, infrastructure and logistics. Holding elections for representative bodies at different levels puts pressure on finances, thereby putting a strain on the resources of the exchequer Is.” Panel report.
“Simultaneous elections provide an opportunity to rationalize such avoidable expenses and channelize scarce resources into developmental activities,” the report said. Aligning the timelines for national and state-level elections will be beneficial for the entire economy. “Scale and scope will also get a boost.”
The budgetary allocation for ECI and conduct of elections is provided as a separate grant under the Demands for Grants of the Ministry of Law and Justice. As per the demand for grants for 2024-25, ECI asked for Rs 1,000 crore, stating that this was the cost of holding simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly elections.
ECI said the total cost of elections including presidential and vice-presidential elections will be slightly higher 2,410 crores.
To be clear, simultaneous voting would allow voters to vote to elect members of all levels of government on the same day.
However, the Kovind panel report makes slight changes to this view. While central and state elections may be held on the same day, third-tier elections, such as municipal or panchayat elections, may be held within a hundred days of the Lok Sabha and assembly elections.
Meanwhile, experts do not expect this bill to be passed. “It is unlikely that the present government will be able to pass this constitutional amendment in the present Lok Sabha as it requires 362 votes to pass, while the ruling coalition currently has only 292 votes in its favour,” Acharya said. Mint.
This is not the first time India has planned simultaneous elections. Till 1967, central and state elections were held simultaneously in the country. Unstable state governments led to early dissolution of assemblies, breaking the cycle and scattering elections throughout the year.
To avoid repeating history, the draft bill proposes that the new government will rule till the end of the five-year term only if the Lok Sabha or the state assembly is dissolved prematurely to ensure fresh elections every five years.
‘One Nation, One Election’ will begin when the President of India gives public notification on the date of the first meeting of the Lok Sabha after fresh elections to implement the policy change, which means the plan cannot be implemented earlier. 2034 election cycle.
