Meaning of One Nation, One Election: ONOP for UPSC, key reports, schedule and what it means
The Central government has approved the ‘One Nation, One Election’ scheme, which aligns the Lok Sabha and state assembly elections. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced it on Wednesday, September 18. This comes after a report by a high-level committee was submitted to the Union Cabinet for approval. In a major move, the last five articles of the Constitution will be amended to allow simultaneous elections in India. Check out the key reports and timeline of One Nation, One Election.
One Nation, One Election Chronology
The central government had constituted a high-level committee on the issue of holding simultaneous elections in the country under the chairmanship of Ram Nath Kovind in September last year. On August 1, Minister of State Arjun Ram Meghwal told Rajya Sabha that the committee submitted its report in March after considering all suggestions, views and comments from various stakeholders, including political parties. A public notice was also published in newspapers and social media inviting suggestions and comments from citizens and organisations. The committee held 65 meetings and after extensive deliberation, submitted its recommendations to the government.
Soon after independence, elections to the House of the People and State Legislative Assemblies were mostly held simultaneously from 1951-52 to 1967. Today, elections are held almost once or twice a year, which in turn leads to massive expenditure by the Government and other stakeholders. The official website states that this leads to “diversion of security forces and other electoral officials involved in such elections from their primary duties for significantly extended periods, disruption of development work due to prolonged application of the Model Code of Conduct, etc.”
One Nation, One Choice: Recommendations of the High-Level Committee
- Elections were held simultaneously between 1951 and 1967.
- Law Commission: 170th Report (1999): An election to the Lok Sabha and all the Legislative Assemblies in five years.
- Parliamentary Committee Report 79 (2015): suggests methods for simultaneous two-phase elections.
- The High Level Committee chaired by Mr. Ram Nath Kovind consulted extensively with a wide spectrum of stakeholders including political parties and experts.
It has been decided to implement the ONOE in two phases. In the first phase, simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assembly will be held. In the second phase, elections to local bodies (panchayat and municipalities) will be held within 100 days of the general elections. There will be a common electoral roll for all elections and an implementation group will be constituted. Public Service Commission of the Union Aspirants and other readers can check the report at onoe.gov.in.
(Source: GDP, government websites)
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