ET, in its Friday edition, had reported that Article 82, 83, 172 and 327 are proposed to be amended. The bill proposes to amend Article 82 by insertion of new Article 82 A. The proposed amendment Article 82 A says that the president may by a public notification issued on the first sitting of the House of people after general election bring into force provision of this article. It adds that the date of notification will be called the appointed date.
This implies that as per the bill, after the next Lok Sabha polls, an appointed date will be issued for simultaneous polls and the exercise may actually take place in 2034.
In between, the assembly polls held from 2029 and 2034, some of the legislative assemblies might not have full five-year terms. As all the legislative assemblies’ terms need to be completed with completion of the next Lok Sabha term. For this, the necessary arrangements have been made in Article 172 of the Constitution.
In the statement for reasons and objectives, the Union law ministry has cited that there is an imperative need for holding simultaneous polls as election processes have become expensive and time consuming.A notification is to be issued by the President on the date of the first sitting of the House after the general election, and that would be called the appointed date, the bill states.
The tenure of the House of people (Lok Sabha) will be five years from the appointed date, it reads. The bill further says the tenure of all legislative assemblies elected after the appointed date will come to an end with the tenure of Lok Sabha which clearly implies that the exercise could start from 2029 but elections will be possible from 2034.