Framing Lens

If this Bill passes, the timing of when you vote for your state government would be tied to the national Lok Sabha election cycle rather than your state's own schedule. All state elections would happen on the same day as the Lok Sabha election, once every five years. If a state government falls before the five years are up, the next election would be held only for the time remaining in the cycle — not for a fresh full term. This means you could elect a state government that has less than a year left before the next simultaneous election.

What Could Change
  • State elections in your state would be held on the same day as the Lok Sabha election, rather than on a separate schedule.
  • If a state government collapses mid-term, the government elected to replace it would serve only for the remainder of the five-year cycle.
  • The Model Code of Conduct — which restricts government from announcing new schemes and appointments during elections — would be imposed once every five years across all elections simultaneously, rather than at different times for different states.
  • The Election Commission would gain the power to recommend postponement of your state election, without the parliamentary approval currently required for postponing elections under Article 356.

What It Does

The Bill amends the Constitution to implement simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and all State Legislative Assemblies. The President may issue a notification on the date of the first sitting of Lok Sabha after a general election to bring the simultaneous elections framework into force. From that point, all State and UT Assemblies constituted after the notification date will have their terms expire with the end of that Lok Sabha's five-year term, synchronising all future elections. If Lok Sabha or a State Assembly is dissolved before its full term, a fresh election is held for a term equal only to the remainder of the five-year cycle — not a new five-year term — so that the next election remains synchronised. The Election Commission of India may recommend to the President that a particular State Assembly election cannot be held as part of simultaneous elections; the President may then order that election at a later date, with the Assembly's term also ending at the end of the same Lok Sabha term. The companion Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 extends the simultaneous elections framework to UT Assemblies but does not include the deferral provision applicable to State Assemblies. Both Bills have been referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee chaired by Mr. P.P. Chaudhary.

Key Provisions

Commencement of Simultaneous Elections
The President may notify the start of the simultaneous elections framework from the first sitting date of Lok Sabha after a general election. All State and UT Assemblies constituted after that date will expire with the end of Lok Sabha's five-year term.
Premature Dissolution — Remainder Term Only
If Lok Sabha or a State Assembly is dissolved before its full term, the resulting election is held only for the remainder of the five-year cycle, not a fresh full term. This keeps all assemblies synchronised to the same election date.
ECI Power to Defer State Assembly Elections
The Election Commission may recommend to the President that a particular State Assembly election cannot be held simultaneously. The President may order it at a later date. The deferred Assembly's term still ends with the end of the same Lok Sabha's term.
Joint Parliamentary Committee Referral
Both the Constitution Amendment Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 have been referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee chaired by Mr. P.P. Chaudhary for review.

Supporters Say

Frequent elections cause repeated imposition of the Model Code of Conduct, which restricts government from announcing schemes, making appointments, and laying foundation stones — creating governance disruption at the state and national level simultaneously. Simultaneous elections would reduce this disruption to a single coordinated period every five years, lower the cumulative expenditure on election logistics, and provide greater predictability for long-term policy planning.

Critics Say

The Bill may result in some State Assemblies holding elections for terms of less than a year — governments elected for such short periods may not have adequate time to learn the administration and implement policy. The deferral provision lowers the constitutional threshold for postponing state elections: existing Article 356 requires parliamentary approval and specified emergency conditions, while the Bill's mechanism requires only an ECI recommendation with no specified time limit, leaving open the possibility that a state could remain without an elected assembly indefinitely. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar had argued in the Constituent Assembly that the parliamentary system's emphasis on accountability over stability is necessary for India — tying state elections to the Lok Sabha cycle could reduce the accountability function that state elections currently provide.

Primary Sources

High-Level Committee Report on Simultaneous Elections (Kovind Committee), March 2024 Standing Committee on Law and Justice — Report No. 79: Feasibility of Simultaneous Elections, 2015 Law Commission Draft Report on Simultaneous Elections, 2018 ECI Model Code of Conduct PRS Legislative Research — Bill Tracker

CitizenView summarises publicly available legislative information for civic education purposes. All original legislative text belongs to the respective government bodies. We do not reproduce primary source material — we link to it.