One Nation One Election: Efforts intensified on ‘One Country-One Election’, JPC Chairman PP Chaudhary said – Will submit report to Parliament after suggestions

Lucknow, Read: PP Choudhary, Chairman of the Parliamentary Joint Committee (JPC) constituted on the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union Territory Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 related to “One Nation, One Election”, said that the committee is working towards implementing the “One Nation-One Election” system by the year 2029 by completing the necessary constitutional and legal processes. He said the final report will be submitted to Parliament after receiving suggestions from political parties, legal experts, academicians, industry organizations and other stakeholders from across the country.

Speaking to reporters at a hotel in Lucknow on Wednesday, Choudhary said that frequent elections affect development work, administrative system and economy. Repeated implementation of the Model Code of Conduct leads to delays in projects and a large part of the government machinery remains busy in the election process.

He said that holding simultaneous elections would save time, resources and government expenditure. The JPC president said that in 1952, 1957, 1962 and 1967, Lok Sabha and assembly elections of most of the states were held simultaneously. Later the election cycle got separated due to premature dissolution of the Assembly, President’s rule and other reasons. He said the Indian electorate is mature enough and the apprehension of confusion over simultaneous elections is baseless.

JPC Chairman said that the committee is visiting various states and taking suggestions from political parties, public representatives, academicians, legal experts and social organizations. Detailed discussions have been held with all the parties in Uttar Pradesh also. After examining the suggestions and objections received, the final report will be submitted to the Parliament. He said that holding simultaneous elections will reduce election expenses, reduce the need for repeated deployment of security forces and administrative machinery and increase the efficiency of governance. He described this as an important step towards electoral reforms in the country.

He said that the Election Commission, Law Commission, Constitution Review Commission, Standing Committee of Parliament, NITI Aayog and the committee headed by former President Ramnath Kovind have also recommended this arrangement. The Kovind Committee, after discussions with various parties, had submitted a report of more than 18 thousand pages to the government. Presently JPC is visiting various states and collecting suggestions and will prepare the final report.

Elections will be held in one election cycle, not in one day.

P.P. Chaudhary said that the biggest misconception regarding “One Nation, One Election” is that voting will be held on the same day in the entire country. He clarified that this is not so. Elections for Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies will be held simultaneously, but voting can be conducted in multiple phases as before. This will not affect security arrangements and election management.

Suggestions taken from all parties in Lucknow

The JPC held a meeting with various political parties and other stakeholders in Lucknow on Tuesday to hear their views. In the meeting, the ruling party supported the proposal, while the opposition parties presented their suggestions and objections before the committee. The committee says that the views of all parties will be seriously considered while preparing the final report.