Lok Sabha Question No. 254 (STARRED), answered on 2023-03-17
Subject: Simultaneous Election
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar, Kalaben Mohanbhai Delkar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. *254

## TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, 17 th  MARCH, 2023 SIMULTANEOUS ELECTIONS

## *254. SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR:

## SHRIMATI DELKAR KALABEN MOHANBHAI:

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has any proposal to hold the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly elections simultaneously;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  whether  the  Government  has  held  consultations  with  the  Election Commission of India in this regard and if so, the details and the outcome thereof;
- (d) the details of the pros and cons of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies in the country; and
- (e) whether these elections are held simultaneously in any country in the world and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE (SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

- (a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN RESPECT OF PART (a) TO (e) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *254 DATED 17 th  MARCH, 2023

(a)  to  (c):    The  Department  Related  Parliament  Standing  Committee  on Personnel,  Public  Grievances,  Law  and  Justice  had  examined  the  issue  of simultaneous  elections  to  Lok  Sabha  and  State  Legislative  Assemblies  in consultation  with  various  stake-holders  including  Election  Commission  of India. The Committee has given certain recommendations in this regard in its 79th Report. The matter now stands referred to the Law Commission for further examination to work out practicable road map and framework for simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.

(d):  The  Simultaneous  Elections  would  result  in  huge  saving  to  the  public exchequer, avoidance of replication of effort on part of administrative and law and  order  machinery  in  holding  repeated  elections  and  bring  considerable savings to political parties and candidates in their election campaigns. Further, asynchronous  Lok  Sabha  and  Legislative  Assembly  elections  (including  byeelection)  result  in  prolonged  enforcement  of  Model  Code  of Conduct with its concomitant adverse impact on developmental and welfare  programmes. However,  major  impediments/imperatives  for  synchronisation  for  Lok  Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections are as follows:

(i) Bringing  amendments  in  not  less  than five articles of Constitution,  namely,  article  83  relating  to  duration  of  Houses  of Parliament,  article  85  relating  to  dissolution  of  the  House  of  the People by the President, article 172 relating to duration of the State Legislatures, article 174 relating to dissolution of the State

Legislatures and article 356 relating to the  imposition of President's Rule in the States.

(ii) Obtaining consensus of all political parties.

(iii) Having  regard  to  the  federal  structure  of  our  system  of governance, it is imperative that consensus of all State Governments is also obtained.

(iv) Requirement of additional number  of  EVMs/VVPATs, which  would  cost  a  huge  amount,  might  be  in  thousands  of  crores. Considering  that  life  of  machine  is  only  fifteen  years,  this  would imply that machine would be used for about three or four times in its life  span,  entailing  huge  expenditure  in  its  replacement  after  every fifteen years.

(v) Requirement  of  additional  polling  personnel  and  security forces.

(e):    The  Department  Related  Parliament  Standing  Committee  on  Personnel, Public  Grievances,  Law  and  Justice  in  its  79 th report  had  highlighted  that  in South  Africa,  elections  to  national  as  well  as  provincial  legislatures  are  held simultaneously for five years and municipal election are held two years later. In Sweden election to national legislature (Riksdag) and provincial legislature/county  council  (landsting)  and  local  bodies/municipal  Assemblies (Kommunfullmaktige) are held on a fixed date i.e. second Sunday in September for four years. Further, in U.K. the term of the Parliament is governed by the Fixed-term Parliament Act, 2011.

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