One Nation One Election: ‘One Country-One Election’ bill will be presented in Lok Sabha on Monday, will be sent to JPC for discussion
One Nation One Election: Union Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will introduce the One Country One Election Bill 2024 in the Legislative Assembly on Monday, December 16. This bill will be sent to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for discussion. The first amendment bill will be introduced to conduct simultaneous Lok Sabha elections. The second bill will be introduced to conduct simultaneous elections to the Legislative Assemblies in Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry.
Cabinet approves One Country One Election Bill
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the ‘One Country, One Election’ Bill. Earlier in September, the Union Cabinet approved the report of the Kovind Committee on ‘One Country, One Election’. Prime Minister Narendra Modi first put forward his idea of one country one election on the occasion of 73rd Independence Day in 2019. He had said that the process of integration of the country should always go on. The Prime Minister had also put forward this idea on the occasion of Independence Day in 2024.
The purpose of this proposal is to conduct simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies across the country. At present, elections to the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies are held separately, either after the completion of a five-year term or when the government is dissolved for some reason. This has been arranged in the Indian Constitution. The term of the Legislative Assembly of different states ends at different times, according to which assembly elections are held in that state. However, there are some states where assembly and Lok Sabha elections are held simultaneously. These include states like Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim. While elections in states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram were held just before the Lok Sabha elections, elections were held in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra and Jharkhand within six months of the end of the Lok Sabha elections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has long been a supporter of one country one election. The Prime Minister had raised the issue of one country one election on Independence Day 2019. Since then, one country one election has been talked about by the BJP on many occasions.
