The high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind has recommended simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies as the first step and hold municipal and panchayat polls within 100 days of the general election in the next phase.
The committee on March 14 submitted its report, running into more than 18,000 pages, to President Droupadi Murmu. However, the report that has been put in the public domain is a 321-page one.
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The 22nd Law Commission, that is examining the simultaneous polls issue, is also expected to submit its report to the Law Ministry anytime now and recommend simultaneous polls from the 2029 general election cycle.
The Kovind panel report too will not have any bearing on the coming Lok Sabha polls.
To synchronise the elections, the Ram Nath Kovind Committee has suggested that the President, through a notification issued on the first sitting of the Lok Sabha post general elections set an ‘Appointed Date’. This date would mark the beginning of the new electoral cycle.
State Assemblies, that are formed after the Appointed Date and before the completion of the Lok Sabha’s term, would conclude before the subsequent general elections. After this, election to the Lok Sabha and all State Assemblies would be held simultaneously.
The panel recommended that fresh elections could be held to constitute a new Lok Sabha in the event of a hung House or a no-confidence motion, or any such event but the tenure of the House will be “only for the unexpired [remaining] term of the immediately preceding full term of the House”.
When fresh elections are held for Legislative Assemblies, then such new Assemblies — unless sooner dissolved — shall continue up to the end of the full term of the Lok Sabha.
To effect these changes, the panel has recommended amendments to Article 83 (duration of Houses of Parliament) and Article 172 (duration of State legislatures) of the Constitution. “This constitutional amendment will not need ratification by the States,” the committee noted in its report.
Ratification by States
The panel recommended suitable amendments to the Article 324A of the Constitution to allow simultaneous elections in panchayats and municipalities; Article 325 to allow the Election Commission of India (ECI), in consultation with State election authorities, to prepare a common electoral roll and voter ID cards. Both these constitutional amendments would require ratification by the States, the report said. Presently, the ECI is responsible for Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, while local body polls for municipalities and panchayats are managed by State election commissions.
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In all, 18 amendments to the Constitution and other statutes have been suggested. An implementation group has also been recommended to oversee the execution of the recommendations by the committee.
“Now, several elections are being held every year. This casts a huge burden on the government, businesses, workers, courts, political parties, candidates contesting elections, and civil society at large,” the panel said, adding, “the government must develop a legally tenable mechanism to restore the cycle of simultaneous elections”.
The committee has crafted its recommendations in such a way that they are in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution and would require bare minimum amendments to the Constitution, an official statement said after the report was handed over to President Murmu.
Mr. Kovind was accompanied by other panel members, including Home Minister Amit Shah, former Finance Commission Chairman N.K. Singh, former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash Kashyap, former Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
47 parties responded
The committee had reached out to 62 political parties out which 47 responded — 32 in support of holding elections simultaneously, 15 against it. The BJP and the National People’s Party were the only two national parties that supported the move, while the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) opposed it. Fifteen parties didn’t submit a response.
Among the jurists who were consulted, four former Chief Justices of India — Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde and Justice U.U. Lalit — supported the move, while three former High Court Chief Justices and one former State Election Commissioner were among those who objected.
The panel studied election processes in several countries, including South Africa, Sweden, Germany, Japan, Indonesia, the Phillippines and Belgium before recommending simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies in India.
The committee also received 21,558 responses from citizens after it had sought public response.
