In the direction of one country, one election, the central government took a big step to implement its main issue. The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the Constitutional Amendment Bill to arrange for simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.
According to the report of the news agency PTI, a high-level committee led by former President Ram Nath Kovind had also proposed to conduct municipal and panchayat elections in a phased manner along with the elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, but the cabinet decided to keep away from the issue of local body elections for the time being.
When can one country one election be implemented?
The committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind submitted the report on 14 March 2024, which was accepted by the Cabinet in September 2024. Now after about three months, the draft of the bill has been approved by the Cabinet, so it will also be presented in this session of Parliament. One country one election has been an old issue of BJP.
The Modi government is going to start the process of making it a law in its third term. If this law is passed, it will be activated in 2029 or 2034. However, the government has not said anything about it. The government is also willing to consult the Speakers of various state assemblies through the committee.
Lok Sabha's number game
To conduct simultaneous elections in the country, the related bill will have to be approved by at least half of the states, which is not going to be easy. The parties that had put forward the opinion of conducting simultaneous elections in front of former President Ram Nath Kovind now have 270 MPs in the Lok Sabha. If we add the number of MPs of those who neither supported nor opposed, then this figure reaches 293, which also includes TDP.
Even if all of them support the central government in the House, this bill will be passed only when a total of 439 members are present for voting. If all the MPs reach for voting on the bill, then two-thirds i.e. 362 MPs will be needed to get it passed by the Lok Sabha. In such a situation, it is also possible that this bill may not be passed in the Lok Sabha.
Status of the Central Government in the Rajya Sabha
The number game of the Rajya Sabha can also create problems for the Central Government. There are currently 231 MPs in the Rajya Sabha. The Central Government has 121 members, including 113 NDA MPs, six nominated MPs, and two independent MPs. Whereas, for two-thirds support, 154 members are required. The Central Government is short of 33 votes.
YSR Congress, Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), and BJP together have 19 MPs. All these are parties that are neither with the Centre nor with the India Alliance. The India Alliance has 85 MPs. Independent Kapil Sibal can also vote in their favor. There are 4 AIADMK MPs and one BSP MP in the Rajya Sabha, whose inclination toward any party is not visible at the moment.
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