The Union government has postponed the introduction in the Lok Sabha of two bills that would enable simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies.
The two bills are the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment Bill), 2024. Both of them were initially included in the Lok Sabha’s list of business for Monday, but were later dropped from the revised list.
The government has decided to introduce the bills later this week, The Indian Express quoted unidentified sources as saying.
On December 12, the Union Cabinet approved the bills to facilitate simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and all state Assemblies, as well as for the Legislatures in Delhi and other Union territories.
The proposal to conduct simultaneous polls follows recommendations made by a high-level committee chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind. The committee suggested a phased approach, starting with national and state elections before aligning local body elections within 100 days of the simultaneous polls.
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, in a statement on the objects and reasons for the bill to amend the Constitution, said that general elections to the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies were held simultaneously in 1951-’52, 1957, 1962, and 1967, reported The Hindu.
Meghwal noted that the cycle was disrupted because of some state Assemblies being dissolved prematurely in 1968 and 1969. He cited the Law Commission’s 170th report, which suggested that separate elections for State Assemblies should be the exception rather than the norm.
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