‘One Nation, One Election’ road map: If brought in, 10 states may have Assemblies of a year or less

The 10 states that got new governments last year will hold elections again in 2028 and the new governments will be in power for about a year or less. These states are Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Karnataka, Telangana, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Gujarat, even if they deliver clear majorities to a party, will have governments that last two years or less as they will next go to polls in 2027. Similarly, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, and Kerala will have governments that will last three years even in the event of a majority in the next Assembly polls as they are scheduled to go to polls in 2026. Only Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Haryana that go to polls this year — some simultaneously with the Lok Sabha and some later in the year — can have the same government for five years.

To make sure that simultaneous polls do not run afoul of the Constitution, the committee has recommended amendments to Article 83 that deals with the duration of the Lok Sabha, and Article 172 that deals with the duration of a state Assembly. This is likely to follow a Presidential notification. If the amendments fail to get parliamentary approval, the notification will become null and void. If the amendments are adopted, simultaneous polls will become a reality and the terms of most state governments will get truncated during the transition.

While offering details of the steps to be followed for simultaneous elections, the committee has left it to the government to decide when it is ready for it. “The Government would have to decide when the arrangements are in place for holding simultaneous elections,” says the report. Laying down the steps for the transition, the report says, “After the general elections, when the House of the People is constituted, the President would by notification issued on the same date as the date of the first sitting of the House bring into force the provisions of the transition, and this date would be called the ‘Appointed Date’.”

Once the appointed date is fixed, the terms of all state Assemblies constituted after this date shall end with the expiry of the Lok Sabha’s term. This means that these state governments will not last five years, even if they enjoy a majority – if constitutional amendments to change the duration of the legislatures are passed by Parliament.

Once simultaneous polls become a reality, say in 2029, if the Lok Sabha or a state Assembly gets dissolved before its term of five years because of a loss of majority on the floor of the House after the “appointed date”, the committee has proposed that fresh elections be held. These will be “midterm elections” and the new government will last only for the remainder of the full term, called “unexpired term”.

The transition to simultaneous polls may also disincentivise no-confidence motions as Opposition parties will not see much merit in pulling down a government and going for fresh elections, given that the term of the next government will not be for a full five years.