New Delhi: Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Tuesday tabled the ‘One Nation, One Election’, a constitutional amendment bill, in the Lok Sabha. Once approved, the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024, popularly referred to as the Bill on “One Nation, One Election”, will ensure Lok Sabha, Assembly, and local body (urban or rural) elections are held in the same year, if not on the same dates. The bill has been tabled in the Lok Sabha amid Opposition parties’ objections. Here’s looking back at its history.
Not a new concept…
The concept of simultaneous elections is not a new idea in India. Following the adoption of the Constitution, elections to the Lok Sabha and all State Legislative Assemblies were conducted simultaneously from 1951 to 1967. The first general elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies were held together in 1951-52, a practice that continued for three subsequent general elections in 1957, 1962, and 1967.
Disrupted in the 1960s
However, this cycle of synchronised elections was disrupted in 1968 and 1969 due to the premature dissolution of some State Legislative Assemblies. The Fourth Lok Sabha was also dissolved prematurely in 1970, with fresh elections held in 1971. Unlike the First, Second, and Third Lok Sabha, which completed their full five-year terms, the Fifth Lok Sabha’s term was extended until 1977 under Article 352 because of the declaration of Emergency. Since then, only a few Lok Sabha terms have lasted the full five years, such as the Eighth, Tenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth. Others, including the Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth, were dissolved early.
State Assemblies have faced similar disruptions over the years. Premature dissolutions and term extensions have become a recurring challenge. These developments have firmly disrupted the cycle of simultaneous elections, leading to the current pattern of staggered electoral schedules across the country.
