Cabinet clears 'One Nation One Election' bill

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved two bills, including one to amend the Constitution to implement "one nation, one election" and, at a later stage, municipal polls too, and the draft legislations are likely to be introduced in Parliament in the ongoing winter session, sources said. As of now, the Cabinet has given its nod to draft legislations to hold simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies only, the sources said. According to sources, Home Minister Amit Shah briefed the Cabinet on the technical issues related to the bill. Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged his ministers to explain the benefits of simultaneous polls to the people and raise awareness about it. The government plans to send the legislation to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to build a broad-based consensus, sources said. 
However, the move has faced opposition from several INDIA bloc parties like the Congress and AAP, who have alleged that it would benefit the ruling party at the Centre. Major NDA allies, like Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and Chirag Paswan, have backed simultaneous elections.
While a high-level committee led by former president Ram Nath Kovind had also proposed holding the municipality and panchayat polls along with the national and state elections in a phased manner, the Cabinet has decided to stay away, "as of now", from the manner in which local body elections are conducted. The high-powered panel recommended holding concurrent elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies as the first phase, followed by synchronised local body polls within 100 days.