'One Nation, One Election' secures Union Cabinet approval: Govt sources

The Union Cabinet on December 12 approved the One Nation, One Election recommendation. The government is likely to bring a comprehensive bill on the same in the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament.

The government in September accepted the recommendations of the high-level committee for holding simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha, state assemblies and local bodies in a phased manner.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been batting  for shorter election cycles, saying that politics should not dominate the entirety of a five-year term.

In an exclusive interview with India Today TV, PM Modi also underlined his government's commitment to One Nation One Election. "I always say that elections should be held only for three or four months. Politics should not be done for all five years," PM Modi said, adding that this would This "save logistics expenditure". 

India conducted its first elections in the winter of 1951-1952. Pointing to that election as an example of 'One Nation One Election' that he said was discontinued after 1967, the Prime Minister said, "We have set up a commission. The report of the commission has come. We are studying the report. After studying it, actionable points will come out of it. We have a commitment and the commitment is not only a political commitment. This is very important for the country."

The PM said that he favoured the completion of polls in three-four months, adding that the government could then spend the next four and a half years developing the blueprint for the country's growth. "We should sit together for four and a half years and run the country from wherever we are. We should put our full strength into campaigning during the six months of elections," he added. 

Former President Ram Nath Kovind has said that One Nation, One Election (ONOE) has potential to boost India’s GDP by 1 to 1.5 percent. Making a strong pitch for ‘one nation, one election,’ former President and chairman of the ONOE committee said that it will be a game changer for the country.

Talking to reporters in Kanpur earlier this week, Kovind said the Union government will have to build consensus for the implementation of ONOE. While voicing support for holding simultaneous elections to the state assemblies and Lok Sabha in the country, he asserted that this issue is in the interest of the nation.