Former President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday said that simultaneous elections under the “One Nation, One Election” policy were a vision of India’s constitutional forefathers and that this practice was the norm during the early years of the republic.
Speaking on “Simultaneous Elections” at the 30th Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial Lecture on Saturday, Kovind noted that during the first four electoral cycles of the country, Lok Sabha and state assembly elections were “synchronized,” a practice that was later disrupted in 1968.
Kovind, who led the ‘One Nation, One Election’ high-level committee, remarked on the irony surrounding the origin of the disruption in the electoral cycles, particularly since some sections of society deem simultaneous elections as undemocratic and unconstitutional.
“Simultaneous elections were the norm in the early years of the republic. Elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies were synchronized during the first four electoral cycles. This cycle of concurrent elections was broken in 1968 when several state assemblies were prematurely dissolved by the then Union Government exercising its power under Article 356”, Kovind said.
“Some sections of society have termed simultaneous elections undemocratic and unconstitutional. It is hard to miss the irony when we look into the genesis of the disruption of electoral cycles. Simultaneous elections were the vision of our constitutional forefathers,” he added.
Kovind also mentioned that during the consultation process for the policy, 15 parties did not support the idea, many of which had previously supported the concept of simultaneous elections. “During our consultation process, 47 political parties presented their views to the committee. Out of these, 32 supported the idea of simultaneous elections, while only 15 did not. Many among these 15 parties have supported the concept of simultaneous elections in the past.”
On September 18, the Union Cabinet approved the government’s ‘One Nation, One Election’ proposal, which aims to conduct simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, with urban body and panchayat polls to be held within 100 days. The recommendations were made in a report from the high-level committee led by former President Ram Nath Kovind.