Govt thinking of holding 11 state elections with Lok Sabha polls next year: Reports

The BJP is thiking about holding assembly elections to 11 states along with the Lok Sabha polls next year, news reports said Tuesday morning. 

PTI quoted a top party leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity, as saying the party is thinking about either bringing forward or pushing back several state elections in order to make this possible. 

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The terms of the Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh assemblies will expire in January next year and the governments of these BJP-ruled states may recommend a brief spell of governor's rule so that assembly elections there could be held with the Lok Sabha polls, the party leader said.

The tenure of the assembly in the Congress-ruled Mizoram ends in December this year.

BJP sources said other states where assembly polls can be advanced to enable it to be held with the Lok Sabha polls are Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra — all under BJP rule.Assembly elections in these three states are also scheduled next year following the Lok Sabha polls.

Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Telangana are anyway scheduled to be held with the Lok Sabha polls, the party leader said. 

The eleventh state the party is thinking of advancing elections in is Bihar, where they are due 2020-end. The BJP is a junior partner in the state. 

The PTI report however also quoted constitutional experts as saying the BJP's plan may not be legal. Governor's rule, after all, can only be enforced when the constitutional machinery in a state breaks down. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP have often talked about holding simultaneous elections. Their contention is the country seems perpetually to be in election mode, and elections are expensive. 

The Law Commission is currently studying the idea of holding simultaneous elections. It recently recommended holding the Lok Sabha and assembly polls in two phases beginning 2019. 

BJP president Amit Shah wrote to the Law Commission on Monday saying his party was in favour of simultaneous elections. He repeated the earlier contentions — that the move would curb expenditure incurred on conducting elections and ensure the nation is not in "election mode" throughout the year.

(With inputs from PTI)