"One Nation One Election proposal challenged on federal and parliamentary grounds"
One Nation One Election (ONOE)
proposal to synchronise Lok Sabha and all State Assembly elections into one simultaneous cycle.
Constructive Vote of No-Confidence
a mechanism (from German Basic Law) allowing removal of a government only if a successor is simultaneously elected.
The idea of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and all State Legislative Assemblies is not new to Indian constitutional discourse. In the first two decades after independence, elections to Parliament and most State Assemblies were indeed held simultaneously, largely because the political landscape was dominated by a single party and mid-term dissolutions were rare. This synchronisation broke down progressively from the mid-1960s as coalition governments became fragile and State Assemblies were dissolved prematurely under Article 356 (President's Rule) or through votes of no-confidence. By the 1990s, the electoral calendar had fragmented entirely, with elections being held in some part of the country almost every year.
The Law Commission of India revisited the idea in its 170th Report (1999), recommending a return to simultaneous elections to reduce expenditure and governance disruption. The Election Commission of India has also periodically flagged the logistical burden of a near-continuous election cycle. Most recently, a High-Level Committee constituted by the Union government submitted its report in 2024, recommending a two-phase synchronisation — first aligning Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections, and subsequently bringing urban local body and panchayat elections into the same cycle. The committee proposed amendments to Articles 83, 85, 172, 174, and 356 of the Constitution, as well as to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, to give legal effect to the proposal.
The constitutional architecture of India is built on a parliamentary model in which the executive derives its legitimacy from the confidence of the elected legislature. Under Article 75(3), the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the House of the People; the analogous provision for States is Article 164(2). This means that a government can fall at any time if it loses majority support — a feature that is intrinsic to, not a defect of, parliamentary democracy. Fixing the tenure of a legislature regardless of whether the government commands a majority would effectively import a presidential-style fixed-term logic into a system designed on different principles.
The ONOE proposal attempts to resolve this tension through a mechanism of a 'no-confidence motion with a constructive alternative' — borrowing from the German Konstruktives Misstrauensvotum — where a government can only be removed if the legislature simultaneously elects a successor. While this preserves a nominal form of parliamentary accountability, critics argue it fundamentally alters the balance of power between the legislature and the executive by making it procedurally very difficult to remove a government mid-term. …
How many Delimitation Commissions have been constituted by the Government of India till December 2023?
Consider the following statements:
1.In India, there is no law restricting the candidates from contesting in one Lok Sabha election from three constituencies.
2.In 1991 Lok Sabha Election, Shri Devi Lal contested from three Lok Sabha constituencies.
3.As per the existing rules, if a candidate contests in one Lok Sabha election from many constituencies, his/her party should bear the cost of bye-elections to the constituencies vacated by him/her in the event of him/her winning in all the constituencies.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Rajya Sabha has equal powers with Lok Sabha in
Consider the following statements in respect of election to the President of India:
1.The members nominated to either House of the Parliament or the Legislative Assemblies of States are also eligible to be included in the Electoral College.
2.Higher the number of elective Assembly seats, higher is the value of vote of each MLA of that State.
3.The value of vote of each MLA of Madhya Pradesh is greater than that of Kerala.
4.The value of vote of each MLA of Puducherry is higher than that of Arunachal Pradesh because the ratio of total population to total number of elective seats in Puducherry is greater as compared to Arunachal Pradesh.
How many of the above statements are correct?
Consider the following statements regarding the One Nation One Election (ONOE) proposal:
1.The High-Level Committee (2024) recommended amendments to Articles 83, 85, 172, 174, and 356 of the Constitution.
2.Under Article 368, amendments affecting federal provisions require ratification by not less than two-thirds of the State Legislatures.
3.Article 75(3) establishes the collective responsibility of the Council of Ministers to the Lok Sabha.
4.The Model Code of Conduct, when triggered by a State election, also restricts Union government policymaking nationwide.
How many of the above statements are correct?
Which of the following constitutional provisions establishes the collective responsibility of the State Council of Ministers to the State Legislative Assembly?
The 'constructive vote of no-confidence', sometimes cited in discussions of One Nation One Election, is a constitutional mechanism borrowed from which country's system?
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