Government Will Launch 'One Nation One Election' Initiative

The BJP since 2014 has been pushing to hold simultaneous elections...

The government is set to launch its 'One Nation One Election' initiative and may introduce a bill in Parliament during this session, as per resources.

"The government now aims to build consensus on the bill and may refer it to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for in-depth discussions," according to sources.

It further added that the Cabinet has already approved the Ram Nath Kovind Committee's report on the matter.

The government accepted in September the 'one nation one election' recommendations of the high-level committee to conduct simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha, state assemblies, and local bodies in a phased approach.

As per reports, one of the proposed bills will aim to amend Article 82A by adding a sub-clause (1) regarding the 'appointed date'. It will also propose inserting sub-clause (2) to Article 82A, which would address the simultaneous end of the terms for the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.

In its report submitted to the government in March, just before the general election announcement, the panel recommended implementing "one nation, one election" in two phases.

However, there is still no clarity on the number of bills the government intends to introduce for conducting simultaneous elections across the country.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a strong proponent of the ‘One Nation, One Election.’ This year in his Independence Day speech, Modi again called for an end to the ‘disruption’ caused by frequent elections that, he said, was hindering the country’s progress.

The BJP since it came to power in 2014 has been pushing to hold simultaneous election. In 2017 the NITI Aayog backed the proposal, and next year, then the President Ram Nath Kovind mentioned it in his address to the joint session of Parliament.