The Union Minister of Railways, Information and Broadcasting and Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw briefing the media on Cabinet decisions at National Media Centre, in New Delhi on September 18, 2024.
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, today accepted the recommendations of the High-Level Committee on Simultaneous Elections under the chairmanship of former President Ram Nath Kovind.
The High-Level Committee chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind extensively consulted a broad spectrum of stakeholders including political parties and experts. Extensive feedback showed there was widespread support for simultaneous elections in the country.
Also read: High-Level Committee under Kovind endorses simultaneous elections in India
Simultaneous elections: recommendations of a high-level committee
- Elections have been held simultaneously between 1951 and 1967.
- Law Commission: 170th report (1999): One election to Lok Sabha and all Legislative Assemblies in five years.
- Parliamentary Committee 79th Report (2015): suggest methods for simultaneous elections in two phases.
Recommendations and the way forward
- Implement in two phases.
- In the first phase: conduct Lok Sabha and Assembly elections simultaneously.
- In the second phase: Conduct local body elections (panchayat and municipalities) within 100 days of general elections.
- The common electoral roll for all elections.
- Will initiate detailed discussions throughout the country.
- Constitute an implementation group.
– global bihari bureau
