Ex-CJI supports ONOE, but in phased manner

Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) UU Lalit on Tuesday told a joint parliamentary committee that he supported the larger plan of simultaneous elections but added that it cannot be rolled out in one go and would require several phases, according to people aware of the matter.

He pointed out that any “substantive curtailment” of the tenure of the state assemblies—one of the steps suggested by a high-level committee led by former President Ram Nath Kovind—can lead to legal challenges over violation of the Constitution’s basic structure, one of the people said.

Justice Lalit’s suggestions, if accepted by the government, may trigger a significant shift in the plan to implement simultaneous state and national elections in India, an idea that the Union government backs to improve governance, save public funds, and reduce the frequency of elections.

Interacting with the JPC on the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, justice Lalit reiterated his support for the larger plan for simultaneous polls but also said that “striking it with one blow” (curtailing terms of all assemblies in one go) will leave it open to legal challenges, one of the people cited above said, asking not to be named.

Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala and Manish Tewari, and Trinamool Congress’s Kalyan Banerjee sought more clarity from justice Lalit on the issue of curtailing the tenure of assemblies to align assembly polls with Lok Sabha elections.

Justice Lalit maintained that, “If term is cut short substantially, it will impact the basic structure doctrine,” a second person said.

The 39-member panel is scheduled to complete its report by the first day of the last week of the 2025 budget session.

According to some Opposition leaders aware of the details, justice Lalit’s suggestions allow major changes in the current form of the bill and could make the policymakers think afresh about how to implement the ambitious idea. “Going by what justice Lalit has said, the entire roll-out will take 10 to 15 years,” said one Congress leader who is part of the panel.

Another lawmaker from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), however, pointed out that justice Lalit stood by the bill and “never doubted the government’s intent”.

“Yes, he spoke about some legal points that can further improve the bill. When the panel will submit its report on the bill, there will be many suggestions for the government,” said the NDA parliamentarian, requesting anonymity.

Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, who was the chairperson of the 22nd Law Commission and is presently a judicial member of the Lok Pal, also interacted with the panel and spoke about the benefits of simultaneous polls. Some Opposition leaders wanted to know from justice Awasthi if the Law Commission had empirical data when it recommended simultaneous polls in 2018, said some MPs.

The proposal to align elections – known colloquially as one nation, one poll (ONOP) – was a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s 2024 poll manifesto and is backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who argues that it will trim election costs and shift the focus to governance.

But the proposal is fiercely opposed by a raft of opposition political parties and activists who allege that it will hurt democratic accountability and federalism. The bills propose the alignment process to begin in 2029 and the first simultaneous elections in 2034.

IAS officer Niten Chandra, secretary of the high-level Kovind committee, and EM Sudarsana Natchiappan, a senior advocate and former Congress MP who headed in 2015 a parliamentary committee that favoured simultaneous polls, also appeared before the panel on Tuesday. They could not share their views due to a paucity of time and are expected to present their points later.