‘One nation, one poll’ gets Cabinet approval

Sources say the Constitution amendment bill for conduct of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies will not require ratification by at least 50 per cent of the states.

- Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved two Bills, including one that would seek to amend the Constitution to implement the "one nation, one election" plan". These legislations are to be introduced next week during the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament.

The Centre had earlier this week indicated that it would introduce the necessary Bills for formulation of the "One nation, one election" plan in this very session and would strive to send them to a Joint Parliamentary Committee for detailed discussions as it wants to build a consensus around them.

For the time being, the Cabinet has approved the draft legislations to hold simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the legislative assemblies. Though a high-level committee led by former President Ram Nath Kovind had also proposed holding the municipality and panchayat polls along with the national and state elections in a phased manner, the Cabinet has for now stayed away from the way in which the local body polls are conducted.