Amidst the discussion of census, Modi government gives green signal to the report of ‘one country, one election’, what does it mean?

New Delhi: ‘Understand the chronology.’ First the discussion of conducting the census was started and today the report of the Kovind Committee on ‘One Country, One Election’ was approved by the government. Today, the Modi Cabinet has approved the report of the committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, which said that the Lok Sabha and assembly elections should be held simultaneously in the country. Earlier, news came from the officials that the Modi government is preparing to conduct the census. Then Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the census will be announced soon. While discussing the achievements of the first 100 days of Modi Government 3.0, he/she said, ‘We will soon announce it (census).’

This time the census is special in many ways

This time the census is going to be different in many ways. Firstly, the census was postponed due to Covid and instead of 10 years, it will now be started in the 13th year. Secondly, this time there has been a lot of noise about the caste census. The opposition and especially Congress MP Rahul Gandhi are putting a lot of emphasis on this. Then the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) also agreed to the caste census, so it seems that the Modi government has also made up its mind about it. The third special thing is that for the first time the census will be done through digital medium. Then the delimitation of the constituencies is also to be done on the basis of the data in the census. For this, the seating capacity of members in both the houses of the new Parliament, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha has been increased. It seems that the Modi government also intends to complete the project of ‘One Nation, One Election’ along with delimitation.

What does the seal on the Kovind Committee report mean?

In fact, the Union Cabinet has approved the report of the high-level committee on ‘One Nation, One Election’ headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind today. Regarding this, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that simultaneous elections were held between 1951 and 1967 and now the recommendations of the Kovind panel will be discussed at various forums across India. Vaishnav said that a working group will be formed to take forward the recommendations of the Kovind panel on simultaneous elections.

At the same time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a strong argument for ‘one nation, one election’ in his/her speech on the occasion of Independence Day last month. he/she had emphasized that the development of the country is slowing down due to frequent elections. On the completion of 100 days of the third term of the Modi government, Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday that ‘one nation one election’ will be implemented in his/her third term.

On the other hand, it is expected that the Law Commission will also propose simultaneous elections in all three levels of government, Lok Sabha, state assemblies and local bodies like municipalities and panchayats by 2029. The Law Commission is also considering the provision of forming a coalition government for the remaining term in case of a no-confidence motion or no-confidence motion in any house.

Know the recommendations of Kovind Committee

Simultaneous Elections: As a first step, the committee recommended holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The committee has said that local body elections should be held across the country within 100 days of the completion of the Lok Sabha and state assemblies elections.
Constitution of Working Group: It is proposed to form a ‘Working Group’ to monitor the implementation of these recommendations.
Advantages of Simultaneous Elections: One Country One Election is expected to save resources, boost development, promote social harmony, strengthen democratic values.
Common Voter List and Voter ID Card: The Election Commission of India (ECI) will prepare a uniform voter list and a single voter ID card in consultation with the state election officers.
constitutional amendment: 18 constitutional amendments were recommended, most of which do not require approval of the state assembly but require parliamentary approval through Constitution Amendment Bills.
Approval of States required: Some of the proposed changes, such as a common voter list and voter ID cards, will require approval from at least half the states.

History of one country, one election

Anyway, when the country got independence from British rule, in the first four elections of 1952, 1957, 1962 and 1967, voting was done simultaneously for Lok Sabha and state assemblies. Then some new states were formed and some old states were reorganized, due to which the process of simultaneous elections for the central and state assemblies stopped. In 1968-69, the assembly of some states was dissolved, so the process of simultaneous elections stopped completely. However, the need to return to one nation, one election was felt immediately and in 1983 the Election Commission recommended it in its annual report. In 1999, the Law Commission also reminded in its report the need to conduct simultaneous elections across the country. The Law Commission itself submitted a draft report to the government in 2018. Then the Modi government constituted the Kovind Committee in 2023 and now the government has also accepted its recommendation.

Delimitation after census, then simultaneous elections

The census work will start next year and it will take at least a year for the final report to come. The delimitation process will begin after the final census data is available in 2026. According to sources and experts, after the delimitation work is completed, one nation, one election will return in 2027. Till then, the elections to be held in Assam, Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala in 2026 can be postponed. At the same time, there will be a gap of a few days, weeks or months in the elections to be held in states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur because their elections are to be held in 2027 itself. Assembly elections in states like Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Karnataka, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana can be held a little earlier because their elections will be scheduled in 2028.