Harmonising Federalism And Electoral Synchronisation: A Critical Appraisal Of ‘One Nation One Election’
- IJLLR Journal
- Nov 30, 2025
- 1 min read
Updated: Dec 3, 2025
Prof. Aman Amrit Cheema, Director & Professor (Laws), University Institute of Law, Panjab University Regional Centre, Ludhiana.
Mr. Ankur Taya, Junior Research Fellow (PhD Research Scholar), Department of Law, Panjab University, Chandigarh.
ABSTRACT
In India, general elections for the House of the People and the State Legislative Assemblies were held simultaneously for first four terms after the independence. However, successive Central Governments started invoking constitutional provisions to dismiss state governments prematurely. With this frequent collapse of coalition governments at the state and central levels, the country began experiencing elections at different times throughout the year. After the 1967 Lok Sabha was dissolved, since then, it is seen that one or the other state has geared up for elections. Currently, on March 14th 2024, the High Level Committee, popularly known as the ‘Kovind Panel’, submitted its report on One Nation One Election (ONOE). The panel has recommended simultaneous elections to be held in 100 days. However, there are some challenges in implementing the ONOE which have been aptly discussed in the report and the researchers would examine the submissions made in the report.
Starting with the concept of ONOE in the first part, the paper would briefly discuss the history behind the concept of simultaneous elections. In the next part, the researchers would analyse the Kovind Panel’s submissions. Both the oppositions to the ONOE and the benefits of having the ONOE would be discussed in the next part. The last part would be discussing the conclusions reached.
Keywords: ONOE, elections, constitution, nation, democracy.
