SL Virdi Advocate
Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on December 17 introduced the 129th Constitution Amendment Bill to hold Lok Sabha and Assembly elections simultaneously (one country one election) in the Lok Sabha. Earlier, the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the ‘One Country, One Election’ reforms. In September 2023, a high-level committee was formed under the leadership of former President Ram Nath Kovind to submit its report in consultation with all political parties of the country, the Election Commission and other statutory bodies.
Mr. Kovind submitted his report; He told the reporters that the report of the Parliamentary Committee, the report of the NITI Aayog, the report of the Election Commission of India have also come and the reports of many other organizations have also come before the committee. All have supported implementation of ‘one country one election’ system. He said that ‘one nation one election’ system is in the interest of the country, it will be of greatest benefit to the common people of the country.
According to the bill, Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections will be held on the same day. The voter will cast one vote for the Lok Sabha and another for the Assembly. Similarly, the municipal and panchayat elections will also be held on the same day. If a government falls before the term of office, there will be an election, but not for five years, but for the remaining time of the legislative assembly, the government will be formed for the same period.
During the discussion about ‘One Country One Election’ in both the Houses of Parliament, the views of different parties have come out. According to the BJP, this law will not only streamline the election process but also get rid of the chaos of repeated elections in different places in the country and repeated election rules. Development works will not be hindered, bureaucracy will not be burdened with additional work and time will also be saved. Frequent elections will also reduce the financial and administrative burden.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and his party Congress opposed the bill. Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra termed the constitutional amendment bill related to the amendment as unconstitutional and said that this bill is against federalism. Shiromani Akali Dal Member of Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal also opposed the bill. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Anil Desai questioned: Is the country practically ready for this? If the government is in such a hurry for electoral reforms, why separate elections in Maharashtra and Haryana? AAP MP Sanjay Singh said that the Modi government has only one slogan – ‘Ek Desh, Ek Adani’. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav talking to reporters on this issue said that the report regarding this plan will have two thousand pages, we do not know anything about the facts of the report. Trinamool Congress President and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee disagreed with the concept of ‘one country one election’ saying that this principle is not compatible with the basic structure of the Indian Constitution.
The United Farmers’ Front has also said that the ‘One Country One Election’ Bill is a corporate agenda to create ‘one market’ by abolishing the powers of state governments.
A two-thirds majority in both houses is necessary to pass a bill in Parliament. Out of 543 Lok Sabha seats, NDA has 292 seats; The figure for two-thirds majority is 362. Out of the 245 seats in the Rajya Sabha, the NDA has 112 seats and the support of 6 nominated members; The opposition has 85 seats. The government needs 164 votes for a two-thirds majority to pass the bill. During the voting in the Lok Sabha, 269 votes were cast in favor of the bill and 198 against. Around 30 BJP MPs were absent during the voting.
The Central Government has sent the Bill to the Joint Parliamentary Committee for general consensus on this Bill. The report will be approved by the cabinet after the report of the committee. Then the amended bill will be discussed again in the House. Even if these bills are passed in both the houses of the Parliament, it will take a long time to become a law because after the passage in both the houses of the Parliament, this bill will have to be passed in the legislative assemblies of 50 percent of the states of the country.
The central government will also have to make other amendments in the constitution to hold joint elections. Therefore, in addition to the amendments in the Representation of the People Act and other rules, Article 83 (Term of the House), Article 85 (Dissolution of the Lok Sabha), Article 172 (Term of Provincial Legislative Assemblies), Article 174 (Dissolution of Provincial Legislative Assemblies) of the Constitution. ), Article 356 (Failure of Constitutional Machinery) etc. also have to be amended.
It may be mentioned that as per the Supreme Court judgment in Keswanand Bharti case, the Parliament does not have the power to change the basic structure of the Indian Constitution. Conducting elections to panchayats and local bodies falls under the jurisdiction of the state governments, but the above bill will abolish this right of the states. In addition to the Lok Sabha and Assemblies, local elections (Corporations, Councils/Nagar Panchayats) will require the approval of at least 50 per cent of the State Assemblies.
In fact, the BJP’s ‘One Country One Election’ bill to establish a state based on one leader, one nation, one religion, one language is not in favor of giving equal rights to the country’s religious minorities, Dalits and women. Under the one language agenda, BJP and RSS want to eliminate the existence of other languages by imposing Hindi as the national language. It wants to divide society in the same way Hitler did in Germany and Mussolini in Italy. The BJP, which came to power by polarizing on the basis of religion and caste, wants to make its rule permanent in the same way.
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