The Law Commission is exploring a solution to synchronize all assembly polls to allow states to hold elections along with the Lok Sabha starting from 2029, according to sources. In light of the government’s establishment of a high-level panel to investigate simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha, state assemblies, and local bodies, the Law Commission may also be requested to include the third tier of elections in its current mandate for national and state polls. The Commission is working on a mechanism to establish a common electoral roll for the Lok Sabha, assemblies, and local bodies, which would reduce costs and manpower involved in the current separate exercises conducted by the Election Commission and state election commissions. The Law Commission’s report on simultaneous polls is still under development as some issues remain unresolved. One proposed approach for synchronizing assembly polls suggests adjusting the tenure of legislative assemblies. Additionally, a mechanism is being devised to ensure that voters only have to visit polling booths once to cast their ballots in both Lok Sabha and assembly elections. The Commission believes that assembly and parliamentary polls can be held together and is working on modalities to facilitate this comprehensive democratic process. While the current mandate of the Law Commission is to suggest ways to hold assembly and Lok Sabha polls together, the high-level committee chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind is tasked with recommending the simultaneous conduct of Lok Sabha, assembly, and local body polls. The sources suggest that the ambit of the Law Commission may be expanded to include local body polls in national and state elections, in line with the terms of reference of the Kovind panel. One suggestion to hold the three-tier polls involves conducting them in two phases per year, with Lok Sabha and assembly polls taking place in the first phase and local body polls in the second phase, taking into account the diverse climatic conditions in the country. In August 2018, the previous Law Commission endorsed the government’s proposal for simultaneous polls, but emphasized the need for further public discourse and changes to the constitutional framework for implementation. The law ministry had initially tasked the Law Commission with studying the issue of simultaneous polls in April 2018.
