Centre planning to bring common electoral roll- one nation, one electoral roll

NEW DELHI: The central government is planning to hold Lok Sabha, Assembly and local government elections on the basis of the common electoral roll that will be prepared by the Election Commission of India. The Centre will soon convene a meeting of state election commissioners in this regard.

The move by the Centre to implement 'one nation, one electoral roll' comes in the wake of the passage of the Election Laws Bill by the parliament.

At present, the voter list for Assembly and local body elections are prepared by adding and removing names from the voter list prepared by the Election Commission of India. This is an impediment to the common voter list under Article 243-K of the Constitution, which empowers the State Election Commissioner to conduct local elections and prepare voter lists for them. However, the Centre's move is to trust the states and implement this without amending the Constitution.

On December 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Chief Adviser PK Mishra called an online meeting to discuss the issue of the common voter list. Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, Commissioners Rajeev Kumar and Anoop Chandra Pandey were also present. The Parliamentary Standing Committees and the Law Commission had recommended the common electoral roll.

Names can be added four times a year

Currently, people can add their names to the voter list only on January 1. In the meantime, a new list should be prepared to add new voters for the Assembly and local elections. However, with the passage of the Electoral Reforms Bill in the parliament, voters will be able to add names four times a year. Therefore, the Centre points out that the voter list prepared by the Election Commission of India can be made the common list for all elections.