One Nation One Election | On NDA table: Joint polls for 22 states/UTs with Lok Sabha 2029
Current Bills’ timeline is 2034; House panel chief says: It’s for NDA Chief Ministers to decide
Once the Assembly is dissolved, the Representation of the People Act, 1950 mandates that the Election Commission conduct elections within six months. (File photo) Even as the Joint Committee of Parliament on the One Nation One Election Bills is engaged in consultations, including interacting with Chief Ministers across states, the NDA is learnt to be exploring advancing the first simultaneous elections from the present timeline of 2034 to 2029 in the 22 states/UTs where it has a majority. To that effect, it is considering the dissolution of the Assemblies before their terms end, The Indian Express has learnt.
A source familiar with the discussions said that of the 22 NDA-ruled states/UTs, 11 are due for elections over the coming two years, before the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. Four states have simultaneous elections with that of the Lok Sabha. These are Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Odisha, which are today all ruled by the NDA.
The committee, formed in December 2024 to consider the Bills that would pave the way for simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and all Assemblies in 2034, has been visiting states to interact with stakeholders, including the state government, legislature, academia, legal fraternity and industry. It is expected to submit its report in the winter session this year.
Assuming the NDA retains its state governments over the next two years, the source said, the Assemblies of the 22 states/UTs could be dissolved by January 2029 by their respective Governors on the advice of their Council of Ministers. Article 174 (2)(b) of the Constitution gives the Governor the power to dissolve the Assembly. The Governor generally does so on the advice of the Council of Ministers or if the government loses majority.
Once the Assembly is dissolved, the Representation of the People Act, 1950 mandates that the Election Commission conduct elections within six months.
The Bills under consideration of the committee, the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, would provide for all Assemblies elected after the first sitting of the Lok Sabha post general elections to have curtailed terms in order to have simultaneous elections in the next cycle. This would mean that the earliest the first simultaneous elections can be held, if the Bills are passed, would be 2034.
When asked if simultaneous elections could be held earlier than the Bills currently provide for, committee chairman PP Chaudhary told The Indian Express: “It is for the NDA Chief Ministers to decide. This issue is outside the mandate of the committee.”
Significantly, some BJP Chief Ministers have already expressed their agreement for such a plan. After meeting the Joint Committee of Parliament, at least four Chief Ministers (Goa, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Delhi) came out in full support of simultaneous elections.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, who met the committee on July 1 as a part of the consultation, said: “If aligning election schedules at the national level requires a suitable adjustment in Delhi’s tenure, the Delhi Government is willing to consider it with a positive approach. If required in the national interest, Delhi could be among the leading states to extend such cooperation.” In the case of Delhi, that would mean cutting the term of the existing Assembly by one year.
If the NDA decides to dissolve the Assemblies in time for elections with the Lok Sabha in 2029, it would mean cutting short the terms of the Assemblies of Goa, Gujarat, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand by three years; and Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Rajasthan and Tripura by four years, as these states have elections due in 2027 and 2028 respectively.
Opposition-ruled states where elections are due before the Lok Sabha polls include Punjab in 2027 and Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Mizoram and Telangana in 2028. This would mean that after their next elections, these state assemblies would have over three to four years left when the Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to be held.
This is expected to sharpen faultlines between the NDA and the Opposition, already strained in the delimitation debate. When asked about the possibility of 22 NDA states/UTs syncing their elections with Lok Sabha 2029, Congress general-secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh declined to comment, saying it was hypothetical. He reiterated the party’s stand: “The Congress is opposed to One Nation One Election. It is unconstitutional, anti-democratic and against accountability. The JPC is examining the matter and has till the Winter Session to submit its report. Nothing has happened to change our position.”
In 2024, Congress and DMK MPs, among others, opposed the introduction of the One Nation One Election Bills in Parliament, calling them unconstitutional. In May, when the committee met then-Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is now Chief Minister, he had opposed the Bills.
So far, the committee has visited and interacted with elected leaders of Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Delhi, Goa and Uttar Pradesh.
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