Simultaneous polls: BJP blueprint for 2024 elections

Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to push his pet idea of simultaneous elections of the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies only after the Lok Sabha elections by bringing a Constitution amendment bill to curtail the life of the Assemblies to synchronise all elections in 2024.

His calculations are based on the BJP winning the general election in May next year as by then the party will also have a clear majority in the Rajya Sabha to overcome the hurdle in passage of the proposed Bill that is difficult today due to the Opposition in majority, a top BJP leader said.

It means the state assemblies going to polls after the 2019 general elections will get only truncated terms. For instance, Haryana that goes to the polls in October 2019, five months after the Lok Sabha polls, will have its Assembly dissolved five months short of the 5-year term to coincide with the general elections in April-May 2024.

The states like Karnataka that goes to poll this summer and Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh having the polls in November will have the President’s rule until the polls in April-May 2024. The amendment Bill may extend the term of the Assemblies in the states that went for the polls one or two years ago.

The proposed amendment Bill will provide for an alternative government in the states for the residual term in the event of the existing government losing the majority instead of fresh elections as contemplated in the Constitution now.

The BJP leader says the PM has already repeatedly said that the simultaneous elections will cut the poll cost an save repeated hinderances to the development projects due to separate poll cycles due to the code of conduct during the elections and free the government staff put on the poll duties to concentrate on their regular work except during the polls only once in five years.

The party may soon clarify that the simultaneous polls are proposed only in 2024 and not in the coming months to put to rest the speculation that the Prime Minister may advance the Lok Sabha polls and let all BJP-ruled states get the Assemblies dissolved to have the simultaneous polls in most of the states in November-December when the Assembly polls are already due in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

In any case, the Constitution amendment is not possible now when the Opposition is in a majority in the Rajya Sabha. Moreover, it is a longdrawn process that includes ratification by the two-third state legislatures and framing of the new rules. It will also require huge expenditure in terms of purchase of new EVMs and printers to be attached to them mandatorily and convincing the allies whose legislators may not be prepared to curtailment of their term.