Committee on One Nation- One Election

• The Law Ministry issued a notification on the ‘One Nation One Election’ committee.
• The committee has former President of India Ram Nath Kovind as chairman and seven other members – Home Minister Amit Shah, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (although rejected to be a part later), Ghulam Nabi Azad, NK Singh, Subhash C. Kashyap, Harish Salve and Sanjay Kothari.
• The panel will commence functioning immediately and make recommendations at the earliest.
• Mandate
  • The committee will examine and recommend specific amendments to the Constitution, the Representation of the People Act and any other laws and rules which would require amendments for the purpose of holding simultaneous elections.
  • It will also examine and recommend, if the amendments to the Constitution would require ratification by the States.
  • The committee will also analyse and recommend possible solutions to scenarios such as hung House, adoption of no-confidence motion, or defection or any such other event in case of simultaneous elections.
  • The committee will hear and entertain all persons, representations and communications which in its opinion can facilitate its work and enable it to finalise its recommendations.

BRIEF HISTORY

• Simultaneous elections were the norm until 1967.
• However after the dissolution of a few Legislative Assemblies in 1968-1969 and that of Lok Sabha in 1970, elections to State Assemblies and Parliament have been held separately.

PRIOR EFFORTS

• The Election Commission had suggested about simultaneous elections back in 1983.
• The Law Commission headed by Justice B P Jeevan Reddy, in its 170^th Report in May 1999, stated, “We must go back to the situation where the elections to Lok Sabha and all the Legislative Assemblies are held at once”.

PROS

• Making polls simultaneous would address concerns, such as reducing the cost of holding elections and limiting all elections to a single season.
• Model Code of Conduct gets in the way of the government announcing projects or policy plans.

CONS

• Complexity of such an exercise.
• Simultaneous polls would benefit the nationally dominant party at the cost of regional players, and
• The complications that would arise if any of the governments were to collapse before completing its term.
• Logistical issues-Availability of EVMs and