One Nation, One Election: Bill provisions show simultaneous polls not until 2034

The Constitutional Amendment Bill — One Nation, One Election — that will pave the way for simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies has proposed amendments and insertion of new Articles.

That will allow the terms of the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies to be synchronised. The process of simultaneous elections itself will not take place till 2034, the provisions of the bill indicate. As per a copy of the bill circulated late on Friday night, if the Lok Sabha or any state assembly is dissolved before the end of its full term, mid-term elections will be held only for that legislature to complete the remainder of its five-year term.

The bill suggests adding Article 82(A) (simultaneous elections to the House of the People and all Legislative Assemblies) and amending Articles 83 (duration of Houses of Parliament), 172, and 327 (power of Parliament to make provisions with respect to elections to Legislatures).

The Constitution (one hundred and twenty-ninth amendment) Bill, 2024, which was approved by the Union Cabinet on Thursday, states that the provisions of the amendment will come into effect on an “appointed date,” which the President will notify on the first sitting of the Lok Sabha after a general election.

According to the bill, which will be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday, the “appointed date” will be after the next Lok Sabha elections in 2029, with simultaneous elections slated to begin in 2034. The bill states: “Notwithstanding anything in Article 83 and Article 172, the term of all legislative assemblies constituted in any general election held after the appointed date and before the expiry of the full term of the House of the People shall come to an end on the expiry of the full term of the House of the People.”

The bill also specifies that the tenure of the House of the People (Lok Sabha) will be five years from the appointed date, and the tenure of all legislative assemblies elected after the appointed date will end with the tenure of the Lok Sabha.

Based on the recommendations of the Kovind Committee, which was constituted on September 2, 2023, to examine the issue of simultaneous elections and make recommendations for their implementation, the bill states that if the House of the People or a Legislative Assembly is dissolved before the end of its full term, the term of the new House or Assembly will be for the unexpired portion of the previous term.

The second bill to be introduced seeks to align the terms of assemblies in the Union Territories of Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, and Puducherry.

The Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, proposes consequential amendments to Section 5 of the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963; Section 5 of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991; and Section 17 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, to synchronise elections with those of the House of the People and state legislative assemblies.

The Kovind Committee recommended that, in the first stage, elections to the House of the People and the legislative assemblies, including those of Union Territories, should be held simultaneously.