Simultaneous polls Bill: Amendments in effect from date to be notified by President

As The Indian Express reported Friday, this means that simultaneous elections can be held as early as 2034 if the appointed date is notified on the first sitting of the Lok Sabha elected in 2029, as the first sitting of the House elected earlier this year has passed.

The Bill, circulated among MPs Friday evening, proposes to add a new Article — 82 (A) (simultaneous elections to the House of the People and all Legislative Assemblies) — and to amend Article 83 (Duration of Houses of Parliament); Article 172 (Duration of State Legislatures); and Article 327 (Power of Parliament to make provision with respect to elections to Legislatures).

As per recommendations of the high-level committee chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind, the Bill proposes amendments and insertion of new Articles that would enable the syncing of the terms of the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies.

The Assemblies elected after the appointed date will come to an end with the end of the full term of the Lok Sabha. If the Lok Sabha or any state Assembly is dissolved before the end of the full term, mid-term elections for that legislature alone would be held for the remainder of the five-year term.

According to the draft bill, Article 82 A, which is to be inserted, would be: “The President may by a public notification issued on the day of the first sitting of the House by the people after a general election, bring into force the provision of this article, that date of the notification shall be called the appointed date.”

The Bill says: “Notwithstanding anything in Article 83 and Article 172, the term of all legislative assemblies constituted in any general election held after the appointed date and before the expiry of the full term of the House of the people shall come to an end on the expiry of the full term of the House of the people.”

Citing “expensive and time-consuming” polls, the government’s Constitution amendment Bill for implementing simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State/UT Assemblies says it is imperative to sync the different elections, but does not mention the costs or the exact timeline for rolling out the joint polls.

The Bill says the imposition of the MCC puts development work on hold, disrupts normal life, impacts services and curtails government employees from carrying out their core duties as they get mobilised for election duty.

The Cabinet also approved the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which amends the relevant Acts for UTs, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir, to enable simultaneous elections.