PMO called up EC to push for joint Lok Sabha, assembly polls

THE CENTRE’S initiative to revive the debate on holding Lok Sabha and state assembly elections together started with a phone call from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to the Election Commission (EC) last year, show documents accessed by The Indian Express under the RTI Act.

The topic of simultaneous polls made headlines this year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for it at a BJP meeting in March. But

what wasn’t reported is that the PMO had directly reached out to the EC on the feasibility of conducting Lok Sabha and state assembly elections together, less than a year after Modi was elected to power in May 2014.

Interaction between the PMO and EC is rare and unusual, but not improper, a former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) told The Indian Express on condition of anonymity. The EC’S communication with the government on electoral matters is normally limited to the law and home ministries.

A note dated January 28, 2015, signed by then CEC H S Brahma, states, “Shri Nripendra Misra, Pr (Principal) Secretary to PM, informed me that there is a strong feeling of having simultaneous elections for both Parliament and the state assemblies. He mentioned that the repetitive state elections of all the 36 states and