Bills to facilitate simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and state and Union territory assemblies will be presented in the Lok Sabha by Union Minister for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal on Monday, according to the day’s agenda.
On Thursday, the Cabinet approved the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment Bill), 2024, and circulated them to MPs on Friday evening.
The proposed Bills stipulate that simultaneous elections will take place on an “appointed date,” which the President will announce during the first sitting of the Lok Sabha following a general election. Under the Constitution Amendment Bill, all state assemblies elected after the appointed date will have their terms shortened to align with the full term of the Lok Sabha, allowing for simultaneous elections.
Since the first sitting of the Lok Sabha elected in 2024 has already taken place, the appointed date can only be set during the first sitting of the Lok Sabha elected in 2029. This implies that simultaneous elections could occur by 2034, when the full term of that House ends.
The Bill introduces a new Article 82(A) (for simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and all Legislative Assemblies) and amends Articles 83 (Duration of Houses of Parliament), 172 (Duration of State Legislatures), and 327 (Parliament’s power to make provisions for elections to Legislatures).
The Union Territories Bill makes similar changes for the assemblies of Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, and Puducherry.
These Bills were drafted based on recommendations from the high-level committee chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind, which the Law Ministry set up on September 2, 2023, to propose amendments for conducting simultaneous elections.
