Because the Union Cupboard on Wednesday accepted a high-level panel’s suggestions for holding simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha, state assemblies and native our bodies in a phased method after a national consensus-building train, here’s a have a look at what has occurred to date: * In India, simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha (Home of the Folks) and Vidhan Sabhas (state legislative assemblies) have been held in 1951-52, 1957, 1962 and 1967.
* The primary basic election underneath the brand new Structure was held between October 1951 and Could 1952, that includes a three-tiered course of electing the president and vice-president, members of the Decrease Homes on the Centre and within the states, and members of the Higher Homes.
* The second basic election to the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies was accomplished on time by March 1957. So as to maintain the Lok Sabha and Meeting polls concurrently, the assemblies of Bihar, Bombay, Madras, Mysore, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have been dissolved earlier than their phrases have been accomplished, in session with political events and state governments.
* With the passage of years, the concurrent nature of elections was misplaced. This was as a result of the tenure of the Home of the Folks and state legislative assemblies was not for a set size of time however a most period of 5 years. Between 1961 and 1970, 5 states — Bihar, Kerala, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal — had three elections.
* The situation additional deteriorated within the subsequent decade (1971-1980) when 14 states witnessed elections thrice. In Odisha, polls have been performed 4 occasions on this decade.
* Within the subsequent decade (1981-1990), 5 states had three elections. From 1991 to 2000, two states went via elections thrice and there have been 4 Lok Sabha polls.
* Infrequently, a number of stories got here up on simultaneous elections. In its inaugural Annual Report in 1983, the Election Fee of India advocated the thought of conducting simultaneous elections for each the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.
* In 2002, the Nationwide Fee to Assessment the Working of the Structure recognised the bane of separate elections and urged for the restoration of simultaneous polls.
* The Legislation Fee of India studied the varied points concerned within the conduct of elections and advisable simultaneous polls in its stories of 1999, 2015 and 2018.
* In its one hundred and seventieth report in 1999, the Legislation Fee identified that the observe of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies, which was prevalent earlier than 1967, confronted disruptions attributable to varied components. The Legislation Fee Report (Draft), 2018 once more underlined the significance and advantages of simultaneous elections.
* The Division-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Legislation and Justice made a radical research of the problems concerned in holding elections in 2015 and advisable another and sensible methodology of holding simultaneous polls in two phases.
* In January 2017, NITI Aayog formulated a working paper titled “Evaluation of Simultaneous Elections: The What, Why and How”, exploring the prospect of holding concurrent elections for the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.
* In 2019, an all-party assembly was held in Delhi and it was attended by 19 political events to debate essential reforms in governance. One of many topics of the discussions was simultaneous elections.
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