The debate on the 'one nation-one election' issue is not new in India. There have been many aspects to this debate. In the past, BJP leader and former Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Shri Lal Krishna Advani has been raising the demand that the tenure of the Legislative Assemblies and the Lok Sabha should be fixed in the country, that is, no elected House should be dissolved before five years. He was the first to suggest that if a no-confidence motion is moved against the government in a house during five years, then in lieu of that, the opposition party should also have the necessary majority to form a new government in the House so that the new government can hold power for the remaining period of the House in place of the government in power.
Such a system exists in a democratic country like Germany. What Mr. Advani meant was that when the term of the Lok Sabha or the Assembly is fixed for five years, the no-confidence motion will come only after the condition of the formation of an alternative government and frequent mid-term elections can be avoided. Therefore, a no-confidence motion should be brought only when there is a definite arrangement for the formation of an alternative government, because the term of the House is fixed. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is considered to be a great supporter of 'One Nation-One Election' and for this, he had also constituted a committee under the chairmanship of former President Shri Ramnath Kovind.
Mr Kovind had submitted his recommendations to the government last year and had recommended simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies across the country. On the basis of this report, the government introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha in December last year and the House sent the bill to a joint committee of Parliament for examination. The joint committee was formed by BJP Lok Sabha member Shri P.P. Singh. The committee was headed by Chowdhury and comprises 41 members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The Committee was given time till the next year's session of Parliament to consider the Bill.
Talking about the work of his committee recently, Mr. Chaudhary told an English newspaper that if the present bill is passed in Parliament, then the Lok Sabha and state assemblies will be held simultaneously by 2034, but the committee can also give some suggestions other than the bill, which Parliament has the jurisdiction to accept or not. By the way, if we look closely, the idea of one country-one election is not wrong in principle and it does not have any adverse effect on the federal structure of India. All that is needed is an amendment to the Constitution. The Bill which the Committee is considering is a Bill for Constitutional Amendment. In practical terms, it does not seem possible to hold simultaneous elections across the country because elections in each state are held on different dates only when the five-year term of the House of these states is over.
In order to hold state elections along with the Lok Sabha polls, the terms of all state assemblies will have to be linked to the dates of the Lok Sabha elections. This can be done only by amending the Constitution and getting the notification issued by the President. For this, necessary constitutional amendments will have to be made to fix the tenure of the Legislative Assemblies. Therefore, the Central Government has also brought a Constitution Amendment Bill in this regard. The biggest question that has been raised by the opposition is that the effect of holding simultaneous elections will be tampering with the federal structure of India. But till 1967, Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections were held simultaneously in the country and people voted together, but in these elections, non-Congress governments were formed in nine states.
How can we forget this fact? Therefore, the opposition's question that simultaneous elections will weaken regional parties is completely baseless. At present, assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha have been held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections and in both these states, governments of regional parties have been in power for the last several elections. Therefore, those who consider the voters of India to be fools and say that simultaneous elections will only affect the issues of the Lok Sabha elections on the people, they do not talk logically. In Odisha, the BJP government has come to power after 20 years, while elections were being held simultaneously. Voters in India are able to cast their votes keeping in mind the issues of the Centre and the states.
The biggest hurdle to holding simultaneous elections is that if there is a hung assembly or a mandate in favour of the Lok Sabha, what to do in such a situation? In this regard, Mr. Chaudhary said that there is no mention of no confidence or confidence motion in our Constitution. It is decided on the basis of the rules of the Lok Sabha. Therefore, the committee can also bring some new legal sections in this regard. What is the harm in amending the Constitution in this regard along with fixing the time of the elected Houses? The broad conclusion is that holding simultaneous elections will save both money and time and will not adversely affect the basic structure of democracy.