ONE NATION, ONE ELECTION BILL GETS CABINET APPROVAL

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Thursday gave its approval to the 'One Nation, One Election' bill, a policy aimed at conducting simultaneous elections across the country. The cabinet meeting took place in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

According to sources, the bill will be tabled in Parliament next week. It marks a significant step forward towards this ambitious goal, which aims to bring about efficiency gains for voters and the nation as a whole.

To accomplish this objective, the High-Level Committee on Simultaneous Elections was headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind. In its findings, delivered in March, the committee pointed out that prolonged elections lead to administrative uncertainty and affect governmental decision-making.

The report also indicates that concurrent elections could provide more consistent policies, reduce electoral weariness, and promote increased participation in voting.

According to details provided by sources with access to official documents, a substantial paper detailing 18,626 pages embodies the outcome of extensive consultations and discussions involving an array of stakeholders. These sessions lasted for nearly two hundred days starting from September 2, 2023.

When cabinet approval was announced in September this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his support for this ambitious initiative expressing "pleasure" at Cabinet's endorsement and complimenting former President Ram Nath Kovind Ji for spearheading the effort to consult a broad range of specialists and stakeholders.

According to this recent statement posted by PM Modi on X, he noted that the High-Level Committee recommendations are being accepted unanimously by the cabinet. Kovind stated while voicing support for simultaneous elections for various assemblies alongside Lok Sabha across states in India "this issue is only beneficial for the whole nation not any party."

PM also revealed this development comes at a time when former President Ram Nath Kovind said that in order to implement ONOE, it will need broad consensus. The former President emphasized how this process can improve our country's global economic standing given high expectations for GDP growth estimated between 1-1.5 percent following implementation of this onoe plan.