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The country is now moving towards 'One Nation One Election'. On September 18, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal of the committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind on One Nation One Election. In fact, the committee headed by the former President had submitted its report on One Nation One Election in March 2024. In this news, we will tell you how simultaneous elections were held in India after independence and why that system was discontinued.
Today there is a lot of discussion about One Nation One Election, but the elections held in the country about 20 years after India's independence were somewhere on the lines of One Nation One Election. That is, during these years, the central and state elections were held simultaneously in the entire country.
Let us tell you, this system started with the first general election of India in 1952 and continued till the election of 1967. That is, at that time the elections of the central and state assemblies were held simultaneously across the country. Now let us know how it ended?
After independence, the Congress party had a strong hold in the country. This was the reason that Congress governments were continuously formed in the states as well as at the center, but by 1960, the hold of Congress started weakening in some states of the country, then the general election of 1967 came, this was the fourth general election of the country. In this, people had to choose the government for both the center and the state.
The problem for the Congress party was that for the first time after independence, it was contesting elections without the face of Pandit Nehru. Well, Congress somehow formed the government at the center, but lost in 6 states. Due to the changing political situation in many states, the assembly had to be dissolved before time. Punjab, Kerala, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were such states where either the Chief Minister was changed several times or the assembly was dissolved and President's rule was imposed.
Then came the general elections of 1971. Actually, the fourth general election in the country was held in 1967, so according to the law, the next general election should have been held after five years in 1972. Karan became very powerful and popular. His well-wishers convinced him that if general elections were held at this time, the Congress Party would come to power with a huge majority.
Indira Gandhi understood this and the general elections scheduled for 1972 were held in 1971. Meanwhile, elections were held at different times in different states due to dissolution of the assembly. Along with this, due to the central elections in 1971, the distance between the states and the center started increasing at the time of elections and this distance remains till today.