NEW DELHI: If the Union government pushes ahead with its ambitious proposal to roll out One Nation, One Election (ONOE) plan in the 2029 Lok Sabha polls, it will have to alter the state of assemblies. It will require the tenures of at least 13 state assemblies to be curtailed and as many as 10 assemblies to be dissolved or their terms extended as part of a one-time exercise to synchronise the election cycle across the country.
The debate on synchronised elections has gained momentum as P P Chaudhary, chairperson of the Joint Committee of Parliament examining the ONOE bills, recently hinted that the committee was working towards making the framework ready for implementation from 2029.
He also said the committee was examining to bring some states into alignment if political parties and chief ministers voluntarily agree to synchronise their electoral cycles.
Chaudhary claimed that nearly 99% of civil society stakeholders consulted so far have backed the ONOE proposal, which aims to curb an estimated Rs 7 lakh crore economic loss caused by frequent polls.
Speaking to this paper, highly placed sources said that the committee was examining options to implement ONOE by 2029 and the BJP ruled states may agree to synchronise their electoral cycles.
If the Centre executes simultaneous elections in 2029, the biggest impact would be on states scheduled to hold assembly elections in 2028. Assemblies elected then will ordinarily continue until 2033.
However, under the proposed framework, their tenure would be reduced to less than a year. Sources said that they would be either dissolved or their tenure would be extended to align with the 2029 Lok Sabha polls.
The states likely to be most affected are Karnataka, Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Mizoram, where assembly elections are due in 2028.
The transition, however, would not be limited to these states. Assemblies where elections are slated for 2027, including Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur, will also see their five-year terms shortened by around two years.
Similarly, governments elected in 2026 in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry will complete only about three years before fresh elections are held in 2029. If the ONOE is implemented in 2029, the tenures of Delhi and Bihar assemblies will also be shortened by a year.
States whose assembly polls are due around 2029 General Election, including Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim, Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir, are unlikely to require any changes.
The proposal forms part of the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, which is being examined by the Parliamentary panel. In September 2024, the Union cabinet gave nod to the report submitted by the high-level committee led by Ram Nath Kovind Kovind on the ONOE proposal that recommended simultaneous polls in the country to the Lok Sabha, state assemblies and local bodies.
A key recommendation of the Kovind committee is that a constitutional amendment bill be introduced to amend Article 83 (duration of Lok Sabha) and Article 172 (duration of state legislatures) and insertion of Article 82A. For this amendment, ratification by the states is not required.
