ONOP 'One Nation, One Election' cleared by Modi cabinet: How likely will the NDA be able to pass the bill in Parliament?
New Delhi/IBNS: The union cabinet on Wednesday cleared the 'One Nation, One Election' proposal in a significant step towards holding simultaneous polls across the country.
The proposal was cleared based on the report by a high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind.
Addressing the media, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that the simultaneous polls would take place in two phases. "The first phase will cover Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections, while the second phase will cover local body elections, within 100 days of the first phase," he said.
He also noted, "A common electoral roll will be made for all elections... an implementation group will be formed to take forward the recommendations of the Kovind panel."
The bill will be brought by the government in Parliament in the winter session.
Take a look at how numbers favour the govt
Out of 47 parties, 32 have backed the idea of simultaneous polls while 15 have opposed it.
Out of 32, most parties are BJP allies or friendly parties apart from the ruling party itself.
Out of 15, five are from outside the ruling coalition. The five parties including the principal opposition party Congress are in power in different states.
BJP's most important ally, Telugu Desam Party, has supported the idea in principle though it has reserved its opinion for now.
The BJP government, which has no majority in Lok Sabha unlike its previous two terms, has 240 MPs. The ruling coalition NDA has 293 MPs.
However, the bill needs to have two-third support in the Lok Sabha.
The ruling coalition's 293 can only become two-third if 439 members are present and voting in the Lok Sabha and more than 100 abstaining from voting.
In Rajya Sabha, the ruling NDA has 115 MPs excluding six nominated members while the opposition INDIA has 85 members.
The two-thirds majority in Rajya Sabha is 164.
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