One Nation One Election | एक राष्ट्र एक चुनाव | जानें क्या बोलती @NewsNetra
One nation, One election is among the critical reforms in the current central government’s agenda.
In fact, the former President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, in his address to Parliament in January 2018, mentioned this as one of the reforms proposed by the government. He said that citizens are concerned about frequent elections in one part of the country or another, which adversely impact the economy and development. The Prime Minister has spoken emphatically about the desirability of having one election across the country. Therefore, the idea is not a bolt from the blue.
What is the Central Idea behind One Nation, One Election?
The central idea behind One nation, One election is to synchronize the timing of Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections across all States to reduce the frequency of polls throughout the country.
This concept was the practice till 1967, but it was disrupted due to various reasons such as defections, dismissals, and dissolutions of government.
The cycle was first broken in 1959 after the Centre invoked Article 356 to dismiss the then-Kerala government. Subsequently, due to defections and counter-defections between parties, several Legislative Assemblies dissolved post-1960, which eventually led to separate polls for Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. Currently, the assembly polls in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha are held together with the Lok Sabha elections.
The idea of conducting simultaneous elections was advocated in 1999 by the Law Commission headed by BP Jeevan Reddy.