Explained | What is 'One Nation, One Election' bill? How it will change how polls are conducted in India

Under the ONOE, the panel recommends that the government must develop a legally-tenable mechanism in order to restore the cycle of simultaneous elections.

In a major step towards implementing 'one nation, one election', the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday approved the constitutional amendment bill, which aims to hold simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

What is 'One Nation, One Election'?

The proposed constitutional amendment bill would deal with making provisions for holding Lok Sabha and state legislative assembly elections at the same time. While a high-level committee led by former president Ram Nath Kovind on simultaneous polls had also proposed holding the municipality and panchayat elections along with the national and state elections in a phased manner, the Union Cabinet has decided to avoid this, "as of now". At present, elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies are held separately.

How will 'One Nation, One Election' be implemented?

Under ONOE, the panel recommended that the government must develop a legally-tenable mechanism in order to restore the cycle of simultaneous elections.

It recommended that in the first stage, only elections for the Lok Sabha and all state legislative assemblies be held together. In the second step, the elections to municipalities and panchayats will be synchronised with the Lok Sabha and state assemblies in such a way that the polls to municipalities and panchayats are held within 100 days of the holding of the parliamentary and Assembly elections.

It suggested that fresh elections could be held to constitute a new Lok Sabha in the event of a hung House or a no-confidence motion or any such event.

Where fresh elections are held for the House of the People (Lok Sabha), the tenure of the House will be "only for the unexpired (remaining) term of the immediately preceding full term of the House". Meanwhile, when fresh elections are held for state legislative assemblies, then such new assemblies — unless sooner dissolved — shall continue up to the end of the full term of the Lok Sabha.

The panel also recommended that a single electoral roll and elector's photo identity card (EPIC) should be prepared by the Election Commission (EC) in consultation with the state election commissions and the same will substitute any other electoral roll prepared by the EC.

As the panel called for making logistical arrangements for conducting simultaneous elections, the EC may draw up a plan and estimate in advance the ONOE requirements — from the procurement of equipment, such as EVMs and VVPATs to the deployment of polling personnel and security forces and other necessary arrangements.

Who is in support and who is against?

During the consultation process on the 'One Nation, One Election' initiative, 32 political parties supported the idea but 15 did not, according to former president Ram Nath Kovind, who headed a high-level committee that studied the proposal. Delivering the 7th Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial Lecture on Simultaneous Elections on October 5, Kovind had said that many among these 15 parties supported simultaneous elections at some point in past.

Among the national parties, the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) opposed the proposal, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the National People's Party (NPP) supported it.

The BSP did not explicitly oppose it, but highlighted concerns regarding the large territorial extent and population of the country, which could make its implementation challenging.

Among the state parties, the AIUDF, the Trinamool Congress, the AIMIM, the CPI, the DMK, the Naga People's Front, and the SP opposed the proposal.

The AIADMK, All Jharkhand Students' Union, Apna Dal (Soney Lal), ASOM Gana Parishad, Biju Janata Dal, Lok Janashakti Party (R), Mizo National Front, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party, Shiv Sena, Janata Dal (United), Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, Shiromani Akali Dal and United People's Party Liberal have supported the proposal.

Others, including Bharat Rashtra Samithi, Indian Union Muslim League, Jammu And Kashmir National Conference, Janata Dal (Secular), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Kerala Congress (M), Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Sikkim Democratic Front, Telugu Desam Party and YSR Congress Party, did not respond.

What are the views about ONOE across the political spectrum?

While the ruling BJP and its allies are pushing for simultaneous polls, several opposition parties have opposed the idea. The government is of the view that simultaneous polls will reduce expenditure in the long run and different parts of the country will not be under the Model Code of Conduct throughout the year due to various polls. Simultaneous polls were held in the country between 1951 and 1967. The concept of simultaneous elections has featured in many reports and studies since 1983, essentially implying a return to the previous practice of conducting polls concurrently. Meanwhile, the Opposition has called it an "assault on parliamentary democracy and the federal structure of India."

"The Union Cabinet has cleared the Bill on One Nation One Election. The views of the Indian National Congress on this subject had been forcefully articulated by its President Mallikarjun Kharge ji on January 17, 2024. Nothing has happened since then to modify them," said Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh.

Kharge, in a letter to the secretary of the ONOE high-level committee on January 17, 2024, had said, "The Indian National Congress is strongly opposed to the very idea of 'One Nation, One Election'."

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has also launched a scathing attack on the Union government over its decision to push for simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, terming the move "unconstitutional and anti-federal."

The Samajwadi Party (SP) said if simultaneous elections are implemented, state-level parties will not be able to compete with national parties as far as electoral strategy and expenditure are concerned, leading to an increased discord between these two sets of parties.

Though BJP's allies such as the TDP, Janata Dal (United), and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), all of whom are represented in the Union Cabinet, are supporting the concept, the National Democratic Alliance will need backing from some of the members of the opposition INDIA alliance besides fence-sitters to ensure the passage of the constitutional amendment bill requiring support from two-thirds of the members in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

(With PTI inputs)