Former President Ram Nath Kovind-led high-level committee formed to deliberate on the 'One Nation One Election' on Thursday gave approval to the prospect. In its report, the committee recommended that in the event of a hung Assembly or hung Parliament, or a no-confidence motion constitutes the new House, fresh elections may be organised for the remainder of the five-year term.
In such case of fresh elections for the House of the People, the tenure will only be for the unexpired term of the immediately preceding full term of the House of the People and the expiration of this period shall lead to the dissolution of the House, recommended the committee.
It also recommended that elections to the Municipalities and Panchayats be synchronised with the House of the People. According to the suggestions, simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and assemblies can be held in the first phase which will be followed by local body polls within 100 days in the next phase. This will need the endorsement of not less than one half of the states.
After thorough discussions, the Committee determined that its suggestions will greatly improve the transparency, inclusiveness, convenience, and trust of the voters.
Moreover, the committee stated that the strong backing for conducting elections at the same time will significantly boost the progress of development and social unity. It will also strengthen the fundamental principles of our democratic system and fulfill the hopes and dreams of India, also known as Bharat.
Earlier today, the Committee headed by former president Kovid visited President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan and handed over their report on the concept of 'One Nation One Election'.
The report, which spans a total of 18,626 pages, is the result of thorough discussions with various stakeholders, and experts, and extensive research conducted over a period of 191 days, starting from its establishment on September 2, 2023.
The Committee includes Union home minister Amit Shah, Ghulam Nabi Azad, the former Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, NK Singh, the former Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission, Subhash C Kashyap, the former Secretary General of Lok Sabha, and Harish Salve, a Senior Advocate. Sanjay Kothari, the former Chief Vigilance Commissioner, is another member. Arjun Ram Meghwal, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Law and Justice, was invited as a special attendee, and Dr Niten Chandra served as the Secretary of the high-level panel.
The Committee conducted thorough discussions to gather input from various individuals and groups with an interest in the matter. A total of forty-seven political parties provided their perspectives and recommendations, with thirty-two of them expressing support for holding simultaneous elections. Numerous political parties engaged in detailed conversations with the High-level committee regarding this issue.
After a public notice was published in newspapers across all States and Union territories, a total of 21,558 responses were received from citizens all across India. The majority of the respondents, accounting for 80 percent, expressed their support for holding simultaneous elections.
The Committee invited several legal experts, including four former Chief Justices of India and 12 former Chief Justices of major High Courts, four former Chief Election Commissioners of India, eight State Election Commissioners, and the Chairman of the Law Commission of India, for an in-person interaction. They also sought the views of the Election Commission of India.
Prominent economic organizations such as the CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, along with respected economists, were also approached for their input on the economic consequences of staggered elections.
They supported the idea of holding simultaneous elections as a necessary economic measure due to the impact that staggered elections have on increasing inflation and hindering economic growth.
The Committee received information from these organizations stating that sporadic elections had negative effects on the economy, the quality of government spending, and various aspects of education and other results, as well as causing social discord.
The national government formed a high-level Committee in September of the previous year to investigate the matter of 'One Nation, One Election' and propose solutions for conducting simultaneous elections across the nation.