Law panel set to recommend legal framework for simultaneous polls

August 15, 2018 11:10

The Law Commission is set to recommend a tough legal framework this month to hold Lok Sabha and assembly polls together, highly placed sources on the panel said today.

"We were not asked whether we support it or not. We were asked to provide the way ahead. We will do that," a functionary said.

The commission would recommend amendments to the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act to ensure simultaneous polls.

The recommendations of the commission are not binding on the government, but the report will allow an informed debate among political parties and stakeholders, he said.

Simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies can be held in two phases beginning in 2019, provided at least two provisions of the Constitution are amended and ratified by majority of the states, a Law Commission study paper had said in April.

According to the working paper, the second phase of simultaneous polls can take place in 2024.

The document stated that the leader of the majority party be elected prime minister or chief minister by the entire House (Lok Sabha or state Assembly) to ensure stability of the government as well as the Lok Sabha or the Assembly.

The document proposed amending the Constitution (Articles 83(2) and 172(1) dealing with tenures of Lok Sabha and state Assemblies) and the Representation of the People Act to extend the terms of state legislative assemblies to effect the move.

It suggested that in case a government fell mid-term, the term of the new government would be for the remaining period "and not for a fresh five-year term".

-- PTI

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