Synchronising Democracy : Analysing The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill And The ‘One Nation One Election’ Proposal

Policy Update
Paridhi Jain

INTRODUCTION

Historically, India had conducted synchronized elections after the adoption of the constitution between the years 1951-1967, where the elections to the Lok Sabha and most of the State Assemblies took place concurrently. Nevertheless, such practice ended due to political reasons and the untimely dissolution of state assemblies (Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal,etc.) in 1968 and 1969. Political instability and defections in the dissolution lok sabha in 1970 contributed to the further divergence of the election cycles due to the premature dissolution of the assembly. Post this, the lok sabha and state assembly elections have been held at different time schedules. However, the 129th Constitutional Amendment Bill attempts to restore the previous election calendar.

Early Institutions had taken this idea into consideration as exemplified in the Election Commission of India’s 1983 report, and by the Law Commission of India in its 1999 report, both of which proposed the possibility of considering the revival of simultaneous elections. Since 2014, under the Political leadership of Narendra Modi, the concept of One Nation, One Election (ONOE) as an electoral reform agenda has been promoted.

Later, a High-Level committee was constituted by the central government, chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind, on 2nd September 2023. Its terms of reference included examining the feasibility and suggesting a framework for conducting elections of Lok Sabha, State Assemblies, and Local Bodies at the same time. The Committee submitted a 18,626 page report in March 2024 observing that holding Lok Sabha elections and state assembly elections simultaneously will: (i) bring about stability and predictability in governance, (ii) reduce policy paralysis and disruptions caused by the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), (iii) minimize costs and (iv) improve voter turnout.

It has suggested empowering “One Nation, One Election” by two constitutional amendment bills i.e. the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 which empowers the Election Commission to conduct elections for Lok Sabha and all State Assemblies together often referred to as simultaneous elections , and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 which extends this framework to Union Territory (UT) Assemblies.

These Bills have been referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee chaired by Mr. P.P. Chaudhary. It proposes to insert Article 82A to furnish a model of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies, and to make provisions to transitional correspondences of terms of legislature. Also, the provisions to deal with the dissolution of the legislature in the middle term under the supervision of the Elections Commission of India.

KEY PROVISIONS

The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 was introduced in Lok Sabha on 17th December 2024. It proposes to insert Article 82A next to the delimitation provision of Article 82. It will comprise six clauses and will create the legal foundation of the simultaneous elections.

Article 82A(1) provides that the provisions on synchronised elections can be put into force on an ‘appointed date’ which will be informed by the President of India, but the appointed date shall be the first sitting of the Lok Sabha immediately after a general election.
In terms of Article 82A(2), the term of State Legislative Assemblies can be terminated to extend its tenure to the entire term of the Lok Sabha, despite the committee being elected after the stipulated appointed date.
Article 82A(3) puts the responsibility of conducting concurrent elections to the Lok Sabha and to the entire State Legislative Assemblies on the Election Commission of India.
Article 82A(4) of the provision also narrates the meaning of simultaneous elections by referring to general elections used to constitute the House of the People and all the State Legislative Assemblies simultaneously.
Article 82A(5), however, brings an exception clause, which means that the Election Commission may suggest to postpone elections in a specific state in case simultaneous conduct proves impossible, and then, the President may allow postponing those elections in a specific state by passing an order.
In spite of this procrastination, Article 82A(6) states that the term of the Legislative assembly in question still ends with the full term of the Lok Sabha thus maintaining the timed electoral cycle.

Besides the introduction of the Article 82A, the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 also includes a series of changes to some of the already existing stipulations in the Constitution to operationalize the simultaneous election concept. These are Article 83, which regulates the life of the Houses of Parliament; Article 172, which regulates the life of State Legislative Assemblies; and Article 327, which permits the Parliament to pass Parliament laws on the elections. Also, it suggested simultaneous elections in two stages – The Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections should be held together and Panchayats and Municipalities elections be held within 100 days after that.

The modified Article 83 through the insertion of five clauses after clause (2), elucidates the idea of the full term of five years of Lok Sabha (five year period from the first date of meeting), and introduces the concept of ‘unexpired term’ ( period between the sooner date of dissolution and the date of expiry of full term). Thus, when the Lok Sabha will be prematurely dissolved, the newly formed House would only complete the remaining term of the House, and not a new term of five years. This unexpired term will be referred to as “mid-term elections” and the one held after the expiry will be called “general elections”.

It is proposed, under Article 172, of State Legislative Assemblies, that the mid-term elections should lead to legislatures finishing the rest of the initial tenure, to maintain the same synchronisation with the electoral cycle of the Lok Sabha while mentioning that all the consequences of dissolution shall apply to the State Assembly being dissolved. In addition, the amendment to Article 327 suggests addition of the words “Conduct of simultaneous Elections” after the words “delimitation of Constituencies”.

Moreover, The Union Territories Laws Amendment Bill, 2024 seeks to amend Section 5 of the Government of Union Territories Act 1962, Section 5 of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act 1991 and Section 17 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019 so that the Bill can allow simultaneous elections with the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies.

RATIONALE

The rationale of the amendment as stated by the bill consists of these factors – “elections have become expensive and time consuming. The imposition of Model Code of Conduct in several parts of the country which are poll bound put on hold the entire development programmes, cause disruption of normal public life, impact the functioning of services and also curtail the involvement of manpower from their core activities for deployment for prolonged periods for election duties.”

Furthermore, the Law Commission of India (170th Report on Reform of Electoral Laws) recommended that the state elections be an exceptional case and not a normal occurrence, but should be conducted jointly with Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assembly elections every five years. On the same note, the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances and Law and Justice in the 79th Report investigated the possibility of simultaneous elections and suggested investigation of viable ways of minimizing electoral processes.

CRITICISM AND ISSUES

Erosion of Federalism – The bill entitles the dissolution power on the President (through guide of the Union), which allows premature curtailments of state assembly to align with Lok Sabha terms without state ratification in Article 368(2). This contravenes S.R. Bommai v. The case Union of India (1994), that restricted arbitrary Article 356 imposition, and formalised federalism as a Basic Structure Doctrine.
Cost and MCC myths – The parliamentary standing committee estimates that combined Lok Sabha and State Assembly Election spending at around ₹4500 crore(2015-16) which accounts for approximately 0.25% of the Union Budget and 0.3% of GDP, this isn’t a significant portion. Furthermore, when elections are held in phases, it actually saves money on costly resources as it allows the ECI to rotate EVMs, VVPATs and security forces. Model Code of Conduct only halts new schemes but not regular governance, disproving the paralysis stories, localised accountability being supported by staggered polls, the other way round, making national campaigns homogenized and routine.
Biases of Excessive Discretion – The criterion-free “opinion” of ECI to defer state polls, at Presidential discretion devoid of Lok Sabha equivalents, may create a possibility of perceived bias against states whose politics is controlled by the opposition. This unequal treatment increased the post-Bommai federal tensions, making former CJI Chandrachud doubtful of ECI impartiality in the presence of partisanship claims. Article 85A(5) creates a zone of unguided discretion.
Undermines Accountability and Governance – The electoral check-ins are limited by the fixed synchronization, allowing truncated governments (charged within 1 year since dissolution of a government) to avoid incentives for structural reform encouraging populism and policy drift, which is opposed to the Ideal of periodic scrutiny, as introduced by Ambedkar. The national incumbency effects shadow out the regional issues and erode the varied mandate of the coalition-heavy India, thus negatively impacting the regional parties of the country.
Essence of Parliamentary Democracy – Critics argue that India deliberately opted for a Parliamentary System where governments survive only as long as they retain legislative confidence underlining India’s tilt towards Responsibility than Stability. Early dissolution of the Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assembly therefore isn’t a defect but instead a democratic safeguard which allows voters to renew the mandate when confidence collapses. However, when elected only for the remainder period, the parties have a tendency to lack accountability.
The problem of “unexpired term” – Assemblies dissolved prematurely to toil with policy inertia (e.g., months) on unelected caretakers, and no-confidence/hung assemblies promote limbo as an even greater perversity. It will increase cycle vulnerability. It risks creating a “governance dead zone” as the bill does not specify the minimum duration of an “unexpired term” triggering a mid-term election.
Administrative and logistics challenges – Long (44 phases) mega-polls with 1+ millenn scale (96 crore voters) put stress on ECI on a large number of destroyed communities, while putting the scale of violence/error at risk despite EVMs. The regional groups are also afraid of being swept by the national dominance. It will also call for new costly resources in order to mandate the elections at a same schedule throughout the country.

WAY FORWARD

India needs to find a middle ground between reforms that are based on consensus and tougher synchronization in order to take advantage of simultaneous elections but reduce risks of federalism. Key steps include:

Hybrid Zonal Synchronisation in accordance with Phase polls regionally organised (e.g. North, South, East, West zones). After each phase of polling (2.5 years), the Lok Sabha represents one-sixteenth of the country, so that local focus is maintained and ECI logistical burdens are not entirely centralized.
ECI Autonomy Improvements: Judicialie the conditions of deferrals with time constraints (e.g., not more than 6 months) Codify deferrals with a multi-party panel to remove accountability gaps on deferrals to an independent panel of multi-parties (not just two) collectively.
Pilot and Tech Integration: Exploratory in isolated UTs/states (e.g., 2029 cycle); use AI-based voter analytics, remote EVM polling and shared electoral roll to save 0.5 percent of the budget and increase turnout.

CONCLUSION

The Bill of 129th Amendment restores an electoral balance that existed pre-1967, yet at the cost of national federalization, lacks accountability, and places strains on logistics in the diversity of India, the same weaknesses highlighted in the history during the Bommai years and global pretensions. Although the reasoning presented by the Kovind Committee (cost savings, relief under MCC) is valid, the unanswered criticisms should be subject to judicial review and hybrid innovations.

However, in the end, it is the federal fortification that makes Synchronising Democracy a success, to make sure that One Nation, One Election makes regional voices stronger, not drowning in a maturing republic. Carrying it out carefully through the JPC consensus would help to change the electoral fatigue into national mandate and offer the guards the sanctity of the Basic Structure.

REFERENCES

Association for Democratic Reforms. (2015). One nation, one election: A report on simultaneous elections. https://adrindia.org/sites/default/files/ONE_NATION%20_ONE_ELECTION.pdf

Azad, V. (2024, December 16). The unconstitutionality of the 129th Constitutional Amendment Bill: One Nation, One Election. LiveLaw. https://www.livelaw.in/articles/the-unconstitutionality-of-129th-constitutional-amendment-bill-one-nation-one-election-278421

Government of India. (2024). The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024 (Bill No. 275 of 2024). Lok Sabha Secretariat. https://sansad.in/getFile/BillsTexts/LSBillTexts/Asintroduced/const%20amdt1217202425225PM.pdf?source=legislation

Kumar, M. (2025). Federal implications of one nation one election model in India. International Journal of Political Science and Governance, 7(3), 136–142. https://www.journalofpoliticalscience.com/uploads/archives/7-3-22-776.pdf

Press Information Bureau, Government of India. (2024, December 17). The Union Cabinet approves the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024 and related measures for simultaneous elections. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=2085082&reg=3&lang=2

Press Trust of India. (2024, September 18). The Kovind panel studied simultaneous poll processes in several countries. The Week. https://www.theweek.in/wire-updates/national/2024/09/18/del88-simultaneous-polls-global-practices.html

PRS Legislative Research. (2024). The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024. https://prsindia.org/billtrack/the-constitution-one-hundred-and-twenty-ninth-amendment-bill-2024

Sharma, A. (2025). The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 – A critical analysis of its impact on federalism and the basic structure. International Journal of Innovative Research in Law. https://ijirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/THE-CONSTITUTION-129TH-AMENDMENT-BILL-2024-%E2%80%93-A-CRITICAL-ANALYSIS-OF-ITS-IMPACT-ON-FEDERALISM-AND-THE-BASIC-STRUCTURE.pdf

The Hindu. (2026, March 9). One nation, one election — remedy worse than disease. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/one-nation-one-election-remedy-worse-than-disease/article70719321.ece

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

Paridhi Jain is a third-year student pursuing BA. (hons) Philosophy at Lady Shri Ram College for Women. She is passionate about public policy, research and academic writing.