News18 Pulse: One Nation, One Election | 80.1% Respondents Back Reform; Support Highest In Central India - News18

News18 Pulse: One Nation, One Election | 80.1% Respondents Back Reform; Support Highest In Central India - News18

The proposal to hold simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and all states, popularly known as the One Nation, One Poll (ONOP) plan, enjoys strong support among the country’s electorate, shows a nationwide News18 survey. Around 80.1% respondents to the survey, titled ‘News18 Pulse: One Nation, One Election’, said they support ONOP.

While 80.1% respondents said they support ONOP, around 16% said they are not in favour it, while 3.9% said they had no opinion on it. The support for ONOP, also called ‘One Nation, One Election’, was highest in Central India, with 90.7% respondents saying they are in favour of it. Next came North India (87.3%) and East India (84%).

Support for simultaneous elections was relatively low in North East India (73.9%) and West India (72.9%), and the least in South India (69.7%)

The survey was conducted from December 23-31, 2024 among 4,573 respondents across 29 states and Union Territories of India. Around 66.1% respondents were based in urban areas while 33.9% belonged to rural areas. Around 73.7% of those surveyed and 26.3% were female, with North East registering a more sizeable sample of female respondents. Nearly two-thirds of the survey sample identified as businesspersons or traders, land owning farmers, white-collar workers and homemakers.

Around 81.2% respondents agreed that simultaneous polls will save public money and reduce expenditure, while 80.8% respondents also believed fewer elections will reduce disruptions to daily life.

Nearly 50% respondents expressed confidence that voters will not face problems in differentiating between candidates and parties at national and state levels. Over half the respondents (55.9%) think simultaneous voting for national and state elections will not create confusion among voters.

However, even among respondents who supported ONOP, around one-third feel simultaneous elections could potentially create confusion among voters. This figure was higher among respondents in South and West.

The parliamentary panel constituted to scrutinise the two simultaneous election bills will hold its first meeting on Wednesday. The 39-member joint committee of Parliament is headed by BJP MP PP Chaudhary and includes members of all major parties, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of the Congress, Sanjay Jha of the JD(U), Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Shinde, AAP’s Sanjay Singh and TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee.

The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill were introduced in the Lok Sabha during the Winter Session and referred to the committee.

The Constitution (129th) Amendment Bill, 2024 says there is an imperative need for holding simultaneous elections for various reasons as polls have become expensive and time-consuming.

The bill proposes to insert a new article 82A — simultaneous elections to the House of the People (Lok Sabha) and all Legislative Assemblies and to amend Article 83 (Duration of Houses of Parliament), Article 172 (Duration of State Legislatures) and Article 327 (power of Parliament to make provision with respect to elections to Legislatures).

The bill also provides that after its enactment, a notification is to be issued by the President on the date of the first sitting of the Lok Sabha after a general election, and that date of the notification will be called the appointed date. The tenure of the Lok Sabha will be five years from that appointed date.

The tenure of all state Assemblies, constituted by elections to the Legislative Assemblies after the appointed date and before the expiry of the full term of the House of the People, shall come to an end on the expiry of the full term of the Lok Sabha.

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Opposition parties have raised concerns over the bills, while ruling NDA leaders say the burden on the exchequer will be lessened. Opposition MPs have questioned if the country is logistically ready to hold simultaneous elections, pointing out that recent polls in Maharashtra and Jharkhand could not be held together with that in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.

During the consultation process on the issue, 32 political parties supported the idea while 15 did not, according to former president Ram Nath Kovind, who headed the high-level committee that studied the proposal.