One Nation, One Election: What will it take for EC to hold simultaneous polls in India?

The submissions of the Election Commission of India have been recorded in the Kovind panel report. (File Photo: PTI)

Almost a decade after Prime Minister Narendra Modi first advocated the idea and provided a fresh impetus to the debate over holding simultaneous elections in India, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday set the ball rolling on ‘One Election, One Election’ as it accepted the report of a high-level government-appointed panel, paving the way for its implementation.

The government is learnt to have already deputed three senior ministers to engage with political parties across the spectrum and try to draw a consensus on its implementation. The two Bills to bring about the 15 Constitutional amendments that the panel has recommended in order to make simultaneous polls a reality may be moved in the Winter Session of the Parliament.

If the government does manage to bring Opposition parties on board on the idea – NDA does not have the requisite numbers in either House – there are significant changes that the Election Commission of India, tasked with conducting the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in India, will have to make to conduct simultaneous polls.

What is EC’s stand on simultaneous elections?

In its submission to the committee led by former President Ram Nath Kovind, the ECI sent the response that it had provided to the Law Commission of India, which had examined the issue in March 2023. The Kovind Committee annexed the ECI’s response to the report that it submitted to President Droupadi Murmu on March 14.

In its submission to the panel, the poll panel highlighted certain difficulties in conducting simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. The same have been mentioned in the Kovind panel’s report that the Cabinet has now accepted.

“The chief issue highlighted by them is that simultaneous conduct of elections would require large-scale purchase of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines. For conducting simultaneous elections, the Commission expects that a total of Rs 9,284.15 crore will be needed for procurement of EVMs and VVPATs. The machines would also need to be replaced every 15 years which would again entail expenditure. Further, storing these machines would increase the warehousing cost,” the committee report said.

Election Commission submissions to Kovind panel

• The ECI said that it would require at least Rs 8,000 crore to procure EVMs and VVPATs needed to hold simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. This figure does not include the requirement for local body polls which are administered by State Election Commissions.
• As per the ECI’s March 2023 assessment, the number of polling stations for the Lok Sabha election of 2024 were expected to increase by 15% to 11.93 lakh from the 10.38 lakh in 2019, which would in turn increase the numbers of polling personnel and EVMs.
• Considering that a total of 4,719 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) were required for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, these numbers would also increase if elections to all state Assemblies too, were held at the same time as the Lok Sabha election, the ECI said.
• The ECI estimated that a total 53.76 lakh ballot units and 38.67 lakh control units of EVMs, and 41.65 lakh VVPATs would be needed for simultaneous elections in 2029. This, according to the EC, would translate into an additional 26.55 lakh ballot units, 17.78 lakh control units, and 17.79 lakh VVPATs over and above the existing inventory at an estimated cost of Rs 7,951.37 crore. This amount did not include the costs of transportation, warehousing, first-level checking, and other related costs, the ECI said.
• The ECI further said that the two state-owned companies that make the EVMs and VVPATs, Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL), would need time to manufacture the additional units that would be needed for simultaneous elections. In its submissions to the Law Commission as well as the Kovind panel, the EC has, however, maintained that it supports the idea of ‘One Nation, One Election’. In 2022, then Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra said that the ECI was “fully geared up” to conduct simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies.