‘One Nation, One Election’ may only start in 2034. Here’s why

This, sources said, would mean that if the Bills are passed without amendment, the “appointed date” would only be notified during the first sitting of the Lok Sabha that is elected in 2029, as the first sitting of the Lok Sabha elected this year has already passed. The full term of the next Lok Sabha would be till 2034.

This timeline, sources said, would also work better for the Election Commission (EC), which will be primarily responsible for implementing the plan across the country. “Building political consensus and getting the Bill passed in Parliament is just the beginning. The actual work starts after that. The Commission will need to place orders for new Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to facilitate simultaneous voting for Assemblies and the Lok Sabha, which requires significant lead time,” said a senior official at the poll panel.

According to the official, the EC would ideally require two-and-a-half to three years to double the number of EVMs needed for simultaneous elections. “Procurement of chips and other materials alone would take seven to eight months. Meanwhile, manufacturers like ECIL and BEL cannot produce such large quantities overnight; they will need to scale up their production capacity. So realistically, we are looking at a lead time of up to three years,” the official explained.

Further, EC sources noted that even if the government builds consensus and gets the Bills passed by the end of 2025 or early 2026, the Commission would be left with a tight timeline to arrange logistics, with little room for error or unforeseen circumstances. “(To hold simultaneous polls in 2029), that timeline would be cutting it too fine, even if the Bills are passed within a year,” the EC source said.

The Kovind Committee had also recommended a third Bill to facilitate simultaneous elections to local bodies, 100 days after the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, by providing for a single electoral roll. Government sources said these proposals were not considered for now.

These amendments would require ratification by 50 per cent of the states, as the local body elections are conducted by the State Election Commissions. For a single electoral roll, apart from the amendments, the ward boundaries would have to be brought under the relevant Assembly constituencies, sources said.