One Nation One Election – A high-level committee on simultaneous elections was constituted on 02 September 2023 under the chairmanship of former President Ram Nath Kovind. The committee submitted its 18,626-page report to President Draupadi Murmu earlier this year. The report states that simultaneous elections were held between 1951 and 1967.
In the country once again One Nation One Election is staring to discussed. In this regard, a committee was formed under the leadership of former President Ramnath Kovind, whose report has now been approved. After receiving approval from the Union Cabinet, the government introduce the proposal during the winter session in the House. A day earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had also called it one of the priorities.
PM Modi tweeted after getting cabinet approval for ‘One Country, One Election‘. He wrote- This is an important step towards making our democracy more vibrant and participatory.
On the approval of ‘One Nation One Election‘ in the Union Cabinet, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that we welcome it because it will save time, money and development gets halted due to the implementation of code of conduct, hence we are happy with this decision.
The President was received the Kovind Committee’s report at the outset of the year. This report prepared in 191 days, says that in the first phase in the country from 2029, Lok Sabha Election and Vidhan Sabha elections should be held simultaneously. Following this, local body elections may take place in the second phase within 100 days.The Kovind Committee also said that simultaneous elections were held between 1951 and 1967.
Let us know when elections were held simultaneously in the country? When did the elections stop together? What was the reason for this?
When were elections held simultaneously before? – One Nation One Election
After gaining independence, the country held its first elections in 1951-52. During this time, elections for both the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assembly of all states took place. Subsequently, simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and State Vidhan Sabha Election were also conducted in 1957, 1962, and 1967.This trend was broken after 1968–69, as some assemblies were dissolved for various reasons.
When the assembly was dissolved to hold simultaneous elections
The Kovind Committee report states that Andhra Pradesh was established in 1953 by taking areas from Madras with assembly of 190 seats. The initial state legislative assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh took place in February 1955, followed by the second general elections in 1957.
In 1957, the tenure of seven state legislative assemblies (Bihar, Bombay, Madras, Mysore, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) did not expire with the tenure of the Lok Sabha. Following the dissolution of all state legislative assemblies, simultaneous elections were scheduled to take place.
Elections were held simultaneously from 1951 to 1967. This is from 1971. Indira Gandhi’s government was at the center. Indira had broken the Congress into two pieces by rebelling against her own party. There were 14 months left for the elections. Indira’s new party, Congress (R), wanted to implement its progressive reforms by gaining a fresh majority.
Those reforms which Indira could not implement till now because of the old guards of Congress. Indira and her party made the decision to hold the elections ahead of schedule. With this it was decided that the Lok Sabha elections will not be held along with the state assembly elections. In the book ‘India After Nehru’, Guha points out that the Prime Minister cleverly distanced himself from the assembly elections by holding general elections ahead of time.
This move resulted in significant losses for the Congress party in the 1967 elections, particularly in states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Odisha, where local issues played a significant role. Indira Gandhi’s decision to prioritize general elections was aimed at separating national and local issues, allowing her to directly seek public support based on national matters.
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