India’s democratic system, which allows citizens to actively influence governance at all levels, rests on the strength of its electoral process. However, a nation with over 1.4 billion people and the potential third-largest economy in the world shouldn’t be constantly engaged in elections. Therefore, the purpose of the “One Nation, One Election” bill, which was presented to the Parliament last December, is to bring an end to the country’s endless election cycle.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), is preparing to implement the party’s long-standing electoral promise across the country to streamline the complicated process, lessen the burden on the country’s resources and save valuable time. The idea, commonly known as simultaneous elections, proposes scheduling the elections for the state legislature and the Lok Sabha on the same dates. Voters would be able to exercise their democratic right to vote for both levels of government in their constituency and on the same day, even though the exercise might occur in phases across the country. The strategy seeks to minimize interruptions brought on by frequent elections, address logistical issues and cut expenses by coordinating these election calendars.
In 2024, the high-level committee report on simultaneous elections in India was published, offering an extensive implementation plan for this goal. On 18th September 2024, the union cabinet approved its recommendations, which was a major step in the direction of electoral reform that could enhance administrative effectiveness, lower election-related expenses and encourage policy stability. The idea of “One Nation, One Election” has surfaced as an essential development that specifies thorough consideration and acceptance as India seeks to streamline governance and maximize its democratic procedures.
Historical background
In India, simultaneous elections are not a novel concept. Elections to the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies were held concurrently from 1951 to 1967 after the Constitution was ratified. Three more general elections took place in 1957, 1962, and 1967, maintaining the trend of holding the first general elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies together from 1951 to 1952.
The first general elections in 1952, which were followed by elections for the president and vice president, marked the beginning of the nation’s experiment with simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections. “One Nation, One Election” was last observed in India in 1967. There were 3,563 assembly seats and 520 Lok Sabha seats at stake in the nation’s fourth general elections. The majority of the polling took place from the 15th to the 21st of February. Most states had just one phase of the election but Uttar Pradesh underwent four.
However, the early dissolution of certain state legislative assemblies in 1968 and 1969 interrupted this cycle of synchronized elections. Additionally, the fourth Lok Sabha was dissolved early in 1970, and new elections were conducted in 1971. The fifth Lok Sabha’s term was prolonged until 1977 under article 352 due to the imposition of “Emergency,” in contrast to the first, second and third Lok Sabhas, which all completed their entire five-year terms. The eighth, tenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth Lok Sabha terms are the only ones that have spanned the entire five years since then while the sixth, seventh, Nnnth, eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth were among the others that were dissolved early.
Over the years, state assemblies witnessed similar interruptions. Term extensions and premature dissolutions are now frequent problems. The current pattern of staggered electoral schedules across the nation is the result of these events, which significantly disrupted the cycle of simultaneous elections.
India saw significant social and political transformations after the 1962 elections. The battle between China and India demoralized people. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the nation’s first and longest-serving prime minister, died on 27th May 1964. Lal Bahadur Shashtri, who signed a statement to end the 1965 India-Pakistan war, replaced him. He passed away in Tashkent on 11th January 1966. A two-year drought was then plaguing many regions of the nation and anti-incumbency sentiment was fueled by an astounding price increase.
On 24th January 1966, Pandit Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi assumed leadership of the country amid these challenges when she defeated Morarji Desai in the election of the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP). As evidenced by the 1967 polls, this caused a split between Indira and Congress veterans like Desai. Meanwhile, parties including the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) led by Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay, the Swatantra Party headed by C Rajagopalachari and J B Kripalani as well as the Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP) helmed by Ram Manohar Lohia, the opposition went through a significant revival.
The Congress had been accumulating over half of the seats in the Lok Sabha and the assemblies till 1962. The SSP was founded by Lohia in 1964 in opposition to the Congress. His catchphrase, “Congress hatao (remove Congress)” helped him win a seat in the Lok Sabha in a 1963 by-election from Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh.
Political assertions of farming groups and strong opposition exacerbated Congress’ problems
Following the Green Revolution, there was an increase in political assertiveness by farming groups in addition to the struggle of the opposition parties against the Congress. The opposition parties made an effort to capitalize on their dissatisfaction by mobilizing these groups with slogans such as Lohia’s “Pichhade Paavain Sau Mein Saath (Other Backward Classes must get 60%),” which was crucial for undermining the Congress in North India. Furthermore, in states like Tamil Nadu, the Congress was defeated owing to the alliance between the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Swatantra Party.
According to the 1961 census, 43.87 crore people were living in the country, but there were only 25.03 crore electors in that year. Voters above the age of 21 could cast votes. The turnout was 61.33%, the highest since 1952, per the surveys. The Congress won 283 seats out of 520 to gain a majority in the Lok Sabha, however despite maintaining a 40.78% vote share, this was the party’s lowest number since 1952. With 44 seats, the Swatantra Party became the main opposition in the lower house.
DMK obtained 25 seats, SSP secured 23, PSP (Praja Socialist Party) won 13, Communist Party of India (CPI) claimed 23 and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) gained 19 while the BJS succeeded in 35 seats. The Swatantra Party also became the main opposition in a few states. As a result of the grand old party’s defeat, the opposition parties formed the Samyukta Vidhayak Dal (SVD) to create coalition governments in several states. Despite being the largest party in 13 assemblies, the Congress failed to secure a straight majority in states such as West Bengal, Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh.
Significant defections to the Congress in a few of the states resulted in the establishment of SVD governments in those states. Before the elections in Bengal, Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee left the Congress to start the Bangla Congress. On 1st March 1967, he took the oath of office as chief minister of the SVD. On 5th March 1967, Mahamaya Prasad Sinha, the only MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) of his party’s Jan Kranti Dal was sworn in as chief minister of Bihar as he became the leader of the SVD. A few days later on 8th March 1967, Gurnam Singh of the Akali Dal was elected as the chief minister of the SVD in Punjab. Rao Birender Singh quit the Congress to start the Vishal Haryana Party in Haryana and on 24th March 1967, he also took office as the chief minister of the SVD.
Other opposition figures who became chief ministers were Rajendra Narayan Singh Deo of the Swatantra Party in Odisha on 8th March 1967, E M S Namboodiripad of the CPM-led United Left Front in Kerala on 6th March 1967 and C N Annadurai of the DMK in Madras on the same date. Chaudhary Charan Singh departed the Congress on 1st April 1967 and on 3rd April he took the oath of office as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh from the SVD. Similar events occurred in Madhya Pradesh where on 30th July 1967, Congress dissident Govind Narain Singh was sworn in as the first non-Congress chief minister. The Congress fell four seats shy of a majority in Rajasthan. Governor Hukum Singh was accused of engaging in “mockery of democracy” despite administering the chief minister’s oath to Congressman Mohanlal Sukhadia.
More than a dozen parties, ranging from the far right to the far left, formed some of these governments. However, a few months after they were established, the SVD governments began to fall apart. Midterm elections were held in 1968-69 in several states, including Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal. Politics in these states has become progressively unstable ever since.
How Indira Gandhi broke the “One Nation One Election” cycle
The prime minister at the time, Indira Gandhi addressed the country on the evening of 27th December 1970. The announcement made by Indira Gandhi on the chilly winter night shut down the election process for decades until the country tried to switch back to the previous system of simultaneous polling. “In the present situation, we cannot go ahead with our proclaimed programme and keep our pledges to our people,” she pronounced while stating that the dissolution of the Lok Sabha was taking place fifteen months ahead of its term. She added, “We are concerned not merely with remaining in power but with using that power to ensure a better life for the vast majority of our people.”
The Lok Sabha was dissolved for the first time after India’s independence. After being expelled from the Congress, Indira Gandhi led a minority administration that was put together with the help of the DMK and other regional parties. She would have served as prime minister until February 1972 but she craved more than just power. She desired to hold an absolute grip on authority. The legislative election would be separated from the state elections due to her decision to dissolve the lower house and organise the general election fifteen months early.
The simultaneous poll cycle, which would become gradually obstructed in later decades, fell apart in 1971 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi decided to hold the Lok Sabha elections 15 months ahead of schedule. However, several states had already conducted mid-term assembly elections, including Bihar (1969), Haryana (1968), Kerala (1970), Punjab (1969), Uttar Pradesh (1969) and Bengal (1969). Only a few states, including Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Odisha went through the 1971 assembly elections and the Lok Sabha elections.
Interestingly, in 1967, the Election Commission of India (ECI) considered setting a set time for synchronized elections to avoid issues for governments when the budget sessions started. “The best time for holding simultaneous general elections all over the country is the first week of March rather than the third week of February, but, unless the financial year is changed, e.g., to the year commencing on 1st July, we shall have to follow more or less the programme adopted as at this year’s general elections and, both at the centre and in the states, the first budget session of the newly constituted houses will have to be hustled through at the start,” read ECI’s report for the 1967 polls. Nevertheless, as the nation hasn’t undertaken simultaneous elections since such plans have remained a pipe dream.
Congress’ infighting and eventual split
The development took place throughout the 1960s, a time of significant upheaval and change within the Indian National Congress which observed a period of disintegration in the late 1960s following the passing of Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shashtri. Following Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s unexplained death, Indira Gandhi was sworn in as prime minister with the backing of the “Syndicate,” which was not supportive of her otherwise. She was not, however, the leadership’s preferred candidate as an unofficial faction predominated the party. K Kamraj, Atulya Ghosh, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, S Nijalingappa, SK Patil and Biju Patnaik were among the members of the influential “Syndicate.”
While Morarji Desai, who also aimed for the prime minister’s chair, had to be content to be her deputy, Indira Gandhi was given the top position. Except for her brief tenure as the Information and Broadcasting Minister in the Shashtri Cabinet, Indira Gandhi’s qualifications had not yet been put to the test, even outside the Congress fold. Ram Manohar Lohia, a socialist mainstay, even called her a goongi gudiya (the dumb doll) after she seemed too apprehensive to read aloud a Budget speech. Indira Gandhi knew she was not very popular with her party members, especially the “Syndicate” and as a result, she began to solidify her standing with the general public.
According to Tariq Ali’s book “The Nehrus and the Gandhis,” an aggressive Indira Gandhi had sprung into the central ring, defying K Kamaraj’s belief that she was “a pliable, weak lump of clay they could mould and remould.” She ran a vigorous campaign with the slogan “Garibi Hatao (remove poverty)” during the 1967 Lok Sabha election. Her views on privy purse and bank privatization did not sit well with Morarji Desai and the “Syndicate.” She was expelled from the Congress in November 1969 for “violating party discipline” due to growing criticism within the party.
Pupul Jayakar in “Indira Gandhi A Biography” remarked, “The Syndicate had never forgiven her (Indira Gandhi) for the independent stand she had taken on vital issues relating to the country.”
Indira Gandhi’s new party
When President Dr Zakir Hussain died on 3rd May 1969, his selection of his successor intensified internal strife within the Congress that was in power. After being ousted, Indira Gandhi launched a new party, the Indian National Congress (Requisitionists), in opposition to the Indian National Congress (Organisation), which was headed by K Kamaraj and then Morarji Desai. This was a watershed moment in the history of the party and triggered political unrest throughout the nation. While alternative governments were established in some states, the president’s power was invoked in others.
Indira Gandhi’s party then partnered with the DMK and other left-wing parties to create a minority administration to maintain its grasp on power. President VV Giri dissolved the Lok Sabha on her recommendation. Inder Malhotra in “Indira Gandhi: A Personal and Political Biography” revealed, “Indira’s government after the split was vulnerable, and she was advised by (her secretary) PN Haksar to call a midterm election in 1971 to get the popular endorsement of her policies.”
Political scientist Myron Weiner mentioned that Indira Gandhi called the polls a year earlier in 1971 due to some factors, including the Congress’ loss in the 1967 elections, a period of drought, rising prices, two wars with Pakistan, increasing corruption, the decision to devalue the rupee, and the deaths of two prime ministers in quick succession. Despite the risks involved in the choice, Indira Gandhi’s risk paid off. The Indian National Congress (Organisation) was only able to secure 16 seats in the lower house, whereas Indira Gandhi’s Congress ultimately garnered almost 43% of the vote or 352 seats out of 518.
Therefore, Indira Gandhi’s hasty dismissal of the Lok Sabha led to an early election in March 1971, which otherwise would have happened in 1972. This was the first time Parliament had been dissolved before its entire term in India’s twenty-three years of independence. Indira Gandhi successfully separated the cycle of the national election from that of the state assembly, whose terms were not yet over, by pushing up the polls.
Notably, some states had already switched to a separate poll calendar, even though Indira Gandhi’s decision to conduct the general election early was a major element in ending the simultaneous vote cycle. The ‘first elected Communist administration in the world’ was the Kerala government under E M S Namboodiripad, which Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru recommended President Rajendra Prasad to overthrow as early as July 1959.
The Kerala government was dissolved on the grounds that it was unable to govern in accordance with the constitutional mandate, which historian V Krishna Ananth described as “a significant abuse of Article 356 of the Constitution.” Midterm elections were forced upon non-Congress state governments after they were overthrown in 1968 in Haryana, Bihar, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. West Bengal’s precarious administration also fell.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also stated that Indira Gandhi “misused” Article 356 of the Constitution 50 times to overthrow elected governments. Therefore, unstable state administrations were removed from the simultaneous election calendar, and Indira Gandhi’s 1970 decision ensured that the parliamentary election and the state polls would be held individually.
Steps taken by BJP-led central government regarding “One Nation, One Election”
The Election Commission reintroduced the idea of simultaneous polling in 1983 and the BJP pledged to bring back “One Nation, One Election” in 1984. The Law Commission also recommended simultaneous elections in its report (Justice BP Jeevan Reddy) in 1999. The BJP after storming to power in 2014 has taken the initiative to bring back “One Nation, One Election” and has even started the process. NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog in 2017 reaffirmed the 79th Parliamentary Standing Committee report’s support for simultaneous elections in 2015 which was an integral part of the saffron party’s election manifestos for 2019 and 2024. The BJP-led NDA government even hosted an all-party meeting on the issue in 2019.
Former President Ram Nath Kovind chaired the High-Level Committee (HLC) established by the NDA Government in September 2023. After six months of deliberations, the panel delivered its report to President Droupadi Murmu in March 2024. The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill were introduced by the centre in December 2024 and both were referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee for further consultation.
A tiered strategy to synchronize elections was laid out in the 18,000-page Kovind report. Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies will be held first, followed within 100 days by local body elections. Of the 47 political parties that responded to the panel, 32 supported simultaneous elections. The idea, according to these parties, which include the BJP, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the Janata Dal-United (JDU), and the Shiv Sena, will preserve social harmony, save limited resources and promote economic growth.
The state assembly’s term is also not shortened to fewer than five years under the bill. The same is guaranteed by Articles 83 and 172. The articles of the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha’s mandates, unless dissolved early, were meticulously crafted by our Constitution’s founders to be no more than five years. The report discussed the possibility of amending the constitution to introduce an extra article 82A, which would change the period of state assembly and align their terms with that of the Lok Sabha.
Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha will need to pass several tests for several constitutional amendments that address the span of the state and Lok Sabha assemblies, the duration of the assemblies in the three Union Territories (Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, and Puducherry), elections in urban and rural wards, and a single electoral roll.
The single electoral roll is one of the bill’s overlooked but crucial proposals. With the introduction of EPIC or Elector’s Photo Identity Card, the committee advised that simultaneous elections must enable the Election Commission and multiple state election commissions to coordinate their operations in order to prepare a single electoral roll. This will provide a self-correction mechanism by replacing the traditional voter card and doing away with voting redundancy.
“Another measure that promises to redefine the terms of good governance is the Bill introduced in Parliament to synchronise election schedules in the country. The ‘One Nation, One Election’ plan can promote consistency in governance, prevent policy paralysis, mitigate resource diversion, and reduce the financial burden, apart from offering many other benefits,” pointed out President Droupadi Murmu in her Republic Day speech.
PM Modi has regularly advocated for the same. “After independence, elections at the state and central levels were held together for a long time. But over time, this pattern broke down, causing significant challenges for the country. Today, there is an important debate about ‘One Nation, One Election.’ Holding the Lok Sabha and state elections simultaneously could alleviate disruptions and enable a more focused governance approach,” he highlighted while addressing a National Cadet Corps (NCC) rally on 27th January.
In reality, “One Nation, One Election” is a pursuit of the original concept that was executed at the beginning of our growing Republic rather than a fresh start. Beyond history, though, the concurrent Lok Sabha elections and elections in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim are evidence of India’s blossoming federalism. There have been six simultaneous elections in the state of Maharashtra, five in Haryana and three in Jharkhand, one of India’s newest states which are a testament to the country’s towering democratic traditions.
