CNA Explains: What you need to know about India's 'one nation, one election' plan

SINGAPORE: India's government has introduced two Bills seeking to synchronise national- and state-level elections. Together they come under what's being called a "one nation, one election" proposal.

The legislation, however, failed to pass on Tuesday (Dec 17) in the country's lower House of parliament.

What is the "one nation, one election" model?

It allows for the holding of simultaneous polls every five years.

Currently, staggered state and general or parliamentary elections are held at different times across India, with a few state polls scheduled almost every year. 

The South Asian country of more than 1.4 billion people has 28 states and eight federal territories.

India holds general elections to vote in members of the lower House of parliament - known as the Lok Sabha - and state polls to elect lawmakers to assemblies.

These are held after the incumbent government completes a five-year term or if the legislature gets dissolved for some reason.

Simultaneous elections are not new to India at all - they were carried out from 1951 to 1967.

But subsequently this was disrupted due to premature dissolution of Houses - both at central and state levels.

In 2023, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi set up a high-level committee under former president Ram Nath Kovind to explore the feasibility of conducting simultaneous elections again.

The panel submitted a 18,626-page report in March, recommending a phased approach to synchronise polls, beginning with elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies, followed by urban and rural bodies within 100 days.

The Ram Nath Kovind panel reportedly studied poll processes in seven countries - Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, Belgium and Germany - before making its recommendation.

Indonesia this year conducted what's been called the world's largest single-day polls, electing a president, governors, mayors and regents across the country.

How would it be implemented?

The two Bills are named the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) and Union Territories Laws (Amendment). 

The government would need a special majority in both Houses of parliament for the constitutional amendment to pass - which means at least half of each House should vote in favour of the Bill, and two-thirds of all members present and voting should support it.

Unlike its two previous terms, the BJP does not have a majority in the lower House of the parliament and banks on partners from a larger bloc it leads as well as other friendly parties to get laws passed.

On Tuesday, the vote fell short, with only 269 lawmakers in favour while 198 were against it. The government then said it was willing to send the legislation to a parliamentary committee for wider consultation.

According to clauses in the constitutional amendments Bill, the changes can be applied in the 2034 election cycle, at the earliest.

What do proponents say?

That it will slash costs and bring the focus back to governance.

The Centre for Media Studies, an Indian non-profit, has estimated that a whopping 60 billion rupees or US$7 billion was spent on the 2019 general election.

Former president Ram Nath Kovind has reportedly said this model will boost India's GDP by 1.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, Modi has said that with polls happening somewhere in the country every few months, "every work is linked to elections".

It leaves political parties, politicians and ministers in campaign mode most of the time and syncing up elections would prevent policy paralysis, the government has argued.

Supporters have also noted how significant resources - including civil servants and security personnel - need to be diverted to conduct elections. Holding simultaneous polls will improve administrative efficiency, they say.

What do opponents say?

On the flip side, organising simultaneous polls may require a larger logistical effort like paper audit trails and additional equipment such as electronic voting machines. All of which would in turn incur significant costs.

Those against the proposal - including the opposition - have also called it "unconstitutional". One lawmaker posted on X, saying: "The federal design of the Constitution makes states co-equal to the union and does not subordinate the states to the union in any manner and that is what these Bills unfortunately do."

Another lawmaker claimed the proposal "seeks to rob the people of their fundamental right to vote regularly - a right that holds governments accountable and prevents unchecked power".

Political scientist Ajay Gudavarthy noted that in a scenario where a state government collapses after two years out of its five-year term, any newly elected government would only be in place for three years, in order to re-align with parliamentary elections.

"The opposition feels (this) is a direct assault on the autonomy of states and the federal structure," he told CNA's Asia Now, adding that he too sees the "one nation, one election" model as giving "overwhelming" power to the central government.

What are the implications for India?

The proposal is just the latest in a series of "consistent assaults on federal structure" since 2014, said Associate Professor Gudavarthy, who's from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

He cited the implementation of a goods and services tax in 2017 as eroding the financial autonomy of state assemblies, and gave other examples such as a 2019 decision to revoke the partial autonomy of Kashmir as well as an upcoming delimitation process to adjust the number of state seats.

But Assoc Prof Gudavarthy said he ultimately did not think the BJP was "serious in pursuing" the "one nation, one election" plan.

He called it a "diversionary tactic" in parliament, linked to the November bombshell fraud accusations against Indian billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani, who's seen as a close ally of Modi.

"I don't see any possibility of this one being introduced anytime soon," said the associate professor. "I don't think there's any immediate anxiety or panic button that the opposition needs to press. (The BJP) don't have the numbers."