SINGAPORE: India’s government has introduced two Bills seeking to synchronise national- and state-level elections. Together they come under what’s being called a “one nation, one election” proposal.
The legislation, however, failed to pass on Tuesday (Dec 17) in the country’s Lower House of parliament.
What is the “one nation, one election” model?
It allows for the holding of simultaneous polls every five years.
Currently, staggered state and general or parliamentary elections are held at different times across India, with a few state polls scheduled almost every year.
The South Asian country of more than 1.4 billion people has 28 states and eight federal territories.
India holds general elections to vote in members of the Lower House of parliament – known as the Lok Sabha – and state polls to elect lawmakers to assemblies.
These are held after the incumbent government completes a five-year term or if the legislature gets dissolved for some reason.
Simultaneous elections are not new to India at all – they were carried out from 1951 to 1967.
But subsequently this was disrupted due to premature dissolution of Houses – both at central and state levels.
In 2023, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi set up a high-level committee under former president Ram Nath Kovind to explore the feasibility of conducting simultaneous elections again.
The panel submitted a 18,626-page report in March, recommending a phased approach to synchronise polls, beginning with elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies, followed by urban and rural bodies within 100 days.
The Ram Nath Kovind panel reportedly studied poll processes in seven countries – Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, Belgium and Germany – before making its recommendation.
Indonesia this year conducted what’s been called the world’s largest single-day polls, electing a president, governors, mayors and regents across the country.
