Indian Prime Minister Modi plans to merge national and regional elections

New legislation aims to save money and boost voter turnout with draft bill expected in December

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during the inaugural ceremony of the 4th Global Renewable Energy Investors Meet and Expo at the Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. Reuters

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to begin the process to hold national and regional elections on the same day, a change he says will save money and encourage more people to go to the polls.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government is likely to introduce the draft bill during the parliamentary session in December.

The world’s largest democracy with 1.4 billion people has a federal structure with citizens electing state legislators in regional polls and the Prime Minister through a national election every five years.

Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party had promised to bring in the contentious ‘One Nation, One Election’ legislation in its manifesto to increase transparency, reduce costs and improve governance.

The Central government had set up a committee under former President Ramnath Kovind to look into the possibility of simultaneous elections in the country in September last year. The panel has recommended simultaneous elections for the parliament and state assemblies followed by local body polls within 100 days, local media reports said on Monday.

Additionally, the Law Commission of India is likely to recommend that all three tiers of government – the lower house of parliament Lok Sabha, state assemblies and local bodies like municipalities – hold simultaneous polls starting in 2029.

India's elections were held simultaneously until 1967. Some legislative assemblies were dissolved prematurely in 1968 and 1969 whereas the Lok Sabha or the upper house of the parliament was dissolved in 1970, a year ahead of scheduled elections, compelling fresh elections.

Indian elections are an enormous affair and the world’s costliest. There are 28 states in the country and at least one state election takes place every year. They include extravagant public rallies, public events, social media campaigns and widespread advertisements.

The total estimated expenditure for the elections this year was a staggering 1.3 trillion rupees, according to media reports.

In 2019, 550 billion rupees, or $8 billion, was spent during general elections, according to a report by the Centre for Media Studies. Mr Modi’s BJP, which is the richest political party in the country, spent about half of that amount.

Opposition parties have opposed the proposed legislation saying that if simultaneous elections are held, the regional parties will lose to the bigger parties because of their influence, while political experts say the proposal is unnecessary and would be complex to implement.