The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the 'One Nation, One Election' proposal on Wednesday, with an aim to conduct simultaneous assembly and parliamentary elections, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said in a briefing.
To pave the way for this proposal, the government in 2023 had formed a committee under former President Ram Nath Kovind to submit a report on One Nation, One Election. The committee in March had recommended implementing the proposal.
The committee's report was given the nod in the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, while briefing the press, said more than 80% of the people who were reached out during the consultations over One Nation, One Election had supported the proposal. "The Opposition may face internal pressure to support the move, as over 80% of the respondents, particularly the youth, sounded positive during the consultation process," he said.
The Kovind-led panel recommended implementing One Nation, One Election in two steps. As a first step, simultaneous polls to Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies will be held. This will require changes to the constitution, but no ratification by the states will be required for the constitutional amendment.
In the second step, elections to the municipalities and panchayats will be held within 100 days of simultaneous polls to Lok Sabha and state assemblies. This will require ratification by not less than one-half of the states.
Implementing the simultaneous elections plan will require around 18 constitutional amendments, according to political strategist Amitabh Tiwari. The Opposition is expected to strongly object to the proposal. However, there's a possibility that all National Democratic Alliance parties are on the same page, as the move has been approved by the Union Cabinet.
Tiwari added that it remains to be seen whether the government will bring One Nation, One Election in the form of a legislation in the Parliament, similar to the Waqf bill, and whether they will send it to the Joint Parliamentary Committee for review. "But, the first step has been taken today," he said.
Reacting to the Cabinet's decision, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters that the move is "impractical". This is a poll gimmick of the BJP ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, said Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
Tiwari further noted that this is likely to be a "long and arduous process", and the ruling BJP may have to reach out to the Opposition to build consensus over the move as it lacks a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to proceed with such legislation.
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