One Nation, One Election: Modi’s ambitious plan faces 2 big challenges - Parliament is just one of them

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (File photo: PTI)

The Narendra Modi government at the Centre on Wednesday said the Union Cabinet has accepted the report of the committee led by former President Ram Nath Kovind recommending simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies as the first step, and municipal bodies and panchayats in the second.

The government, none less than the Prime Minister, has argued that perpetual elections have an adverse impact on governance and development. “This is an important step towards making our democracy even more vibrant and participative,” PM Modi said, reacting to the development.

The implementation of the ambitious plan, which the government hopes to do as early as 2029, will require a number of steps before it becomes a reality. The first, immediate challenge for the BJP would be to get the Bill cleared in both Houses of Parliament.

The Kovind committee has recommended 15 amendments to the Constitution of India — in the form of new provisions and changes to existing provisions — to be carried out through two Constitution Amendment Bills.

The first Bill will deal with the transition to a simultaneous election system, and the procedure for fresh elections to Lok Sabha or a state Assembly before the expiration of their stipulated five-year term. The second Bill will then deal with municipal and panchayat elections, as well as the creation of a Single Electoral Roll by the Election Commission of India (ECI), with details of every voter and the seat for which they are eligible to vote.

Amendments to the Constitution require that they be cleared through Parliament. As per the Kovind panel report, the first Bill, as per the report, would begin by inserting a new article— 82A —into the Constitution to establish the process by which the country will move to a system of simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and state Assemblies.

Article 82A(1) will state that “on the date of the first sitting of the House of the People after a general election”, the President will issue a notification bringing Article 82A into effect. The date of this notification “shall be called the Appointed date”.

Article 82A(2) will state that “all the Legislative Assemblies constituted in any general election held after the appointed date shall come to an end on the expiry of the full term of the House of the People”.

The proposed Article 82A(3) would require the Election Commission of India to hold “General elections to the House of the People and the Legislative Assemblies simultaneously”.

As per the current structure of the Parliament, the BJP will not be able to sail through with its plan without the support of the Opposition parties. The government, it is learnt, has already tasked three Union ministers – Rajnath Singh, Kiren Rijiju and Arjun Ram Meghwal – with the task of holding deliberations and drawing consensus among political parties.

Any Constitutional amendment requires a simple majority of the total membership of either House and two-thirds of the Members present and voting. Each House has to pass it with this requisite majority before it can be moved in the other House.

Suppose all 543 members of the Lok Sabha are present and voting when these Constitution amendment Bills are brought to the House, they will require the support of 362 Members to pass through. The NDA currently has 293 MPs in the Lok Sabha. In Rajya Sabha, where the NDA has 121 MPs while the two-third figure stands at 164.

Getting the two Bills passed in Parliament is only part of the problem for the BJP to implement ONOE. There could be bigger issues that will reach the door of the Supreme Court on the questions of the Constitution.

“Assemblies have a five-year tenure and they can only be dissolved only at the recommendation of the Chief Minister. Suppose a CM has absolute majority, why would he dissolve the House? The central government cannot ask the Chief Minister to dissolve the Assembly. It is the prerogative of the state government,” says constitutional expert PDT Achary, adding that the move can be challenged in the Supreme Court.

“Under the Constitution, federalism is a part of the basic structure. Parliament cannot amend any part of the Constitution which will affect the federal system. If the government implements simultaneous polls, it will be compelling the state governments to curtail their tenure. There are serious legal, Constitutional problems that ONOE will have to face,” the former Lok Sabha secretary general added.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer Raju Ramachandran argues in a column in The Indian Express that the principle of federalism is directly infringed when the people of a state are deprived of their right to stable governance by artificially limiting the term of the representatives whom they elect to only the “unexpired” period.

“It is also a negation of the parliamentary form of government which was consciously chosen by the founders over the presidential form of government… And so, despite crossing the procedural hurdle of Article 368(2), the ONOE idea will also have to meet the basic structure test. And once again, the basic structure doctrine will be on test and the Supreme Court itself will be on test,” he wrote.