'One Nation, One Election' : How Constitution Is Proposed To Be Amended For Simultaneous Elections To Lok Sabha & State Assemblies

The 'One Nation, One Election' Bill, officially known as the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024, will likely be tabled in the ongoing winter session of the Parliament by Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for Law & Justice and Minister of State of Parliamentary Affairs.

The Bill proposes to insert Article 82A(simultaneous elections to the House of the People and all Legislative Assemblies) and to amend Articles 83 (duration of Houses of Parliament), 172(duration of State Legislatures) and 327(Power of Parliament to make provisions with respect to elections to legislatures). The Bill after passed in both Houses of the Parliament shall come into force on such data as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint. 

Another Bill that is likely to be tabled is The Union Territories Law (Amendment) Bill, 2024, to further amend the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963; the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. Through this Bill, the amendments proposed in the main Bill will be aligned for the Union Territories. 

The Bill proposes the following amendments:

1. Simultaneous elections: Insertion of Article 82A which would allow for 'simultaneous elections to the House of the People and all Legislative Assemblies'. Simultaneous elections have been defined to mean general elections held for constituting the Lok Sabha and all the Legislative Assemblies together.

As stated in the Bill, the President by a 'public notification' issued on the date of the first sitting of the House of the People (Lok Sabha) after a general election, bring into force the provisions of this Article. The date of the notification shall be called the appointed date. 

Once the notification is issued, all Legislative Assemblies constituted in any general elections held after the appointed date (that is the date of notification) and before the expiry of the full term of the Lok Sabha, shall come to an end on the expiry of the full term of the Lok Sabha. 

Article 82A(3) of the Bill is particularly important. It says before the expiry of the full term of the Lok Sabha, the Election Commission shall conduct general elections to the Lok Sabha and all Legislative Assemblies 'simultaneously'. Provisions of Part XV (Elections) of the Constitution shall apply to those elections mutatis mutandis with such modifications as may, become necessary and which the Election Commission may, by order specify. 

2. When elections of the Legislative Assembly need to be deferred: Section 82A(5) of the Bill states that when the Election Commission is of the 'opinion' that the elections to any Legislative Assembly cannot be conducted along with the general elections to the Lok Sabha, it 'may' make a recommendation to the President, to declare by order, that the election to that Legislative Assembly may be conducted at a later date. 

3. Legislative Assembly's full term shall come to an end with Lok Sabha irrespective of deferment: The Bill states that even if the term of the Legislative Assembly is deferred, then notwithstanding anything stated in Article 172 of the Constitution, the full term shall come to an end on the same date as the end of the full term of the Lok Sabha constituted in the general elections. 

What happens to the period after the full term of the Legislative Assembly has ended but because of the deferment, the elections are yet to be notified?

4. Mid-term elections: In Article 83, clauses 3 to 7 are proposed to be inserted which talks about 'mid-term election'. It says when the Lok Sabha is dissolved before the full term of 5 years as stated, the period between the date of dissolution and the expiry of the full term shall be an unexpired term. 

Pursuant to the dissolution, a mid-term election shall take place and a new Lok Sabha shall be constituted only for the unexpired term. However, the new Lok Sabha constituted shall not be a continuation of the immediately preceding Lok Sabha. 

Similar mid-term elections through the insertion of clauses in Article 172 are proposed for Legislative Assemblies. 

Union Territories Bill 

Similar amendments have been proposed to the Government of Union Territories Act, 1962 and the respective legislations to the National Capital Territory and Jammu & Kashmir to accommodate amendments for simultaneous and mid-term elections. 

In the statement of objects and reasons of the bill, the Government said that there was an imperative need for holding of simultaneous elections. "The imposition of Model Code of Conduct in various parts of the country which are poll-bound put on hold the entire development programs, cause disruption of public life, impacting functioning of services and also curtail the involvement of manpower from their core activities for deployment of prolonged election duties," the government said.

In March, the High Level Committee under the Chairmanship of former President Ram Nath Kovind submitted its report on "one nation, one election," advocating for simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies, and local bodies. The Committee was constituted in September last year.

Click Here To Read Bill (UT Amendment Bill)

Click Here To Read Bill (Constittution Amendment Bill)