New Delhi: The Election Commission of India has said that an alternative to 'One Nation, One Poll' is combining all elections within a period, say a year, to one specific time.
The Law Commission, as part of its 20-point question, had asked the poll body if an "alternative to conducting elections due in a year at a specified and fixed time in the year is more viable than totally overhauling the existing system".
An expert on Indian Elections and a former office of EC, SK Mendiratta thinks it'll be a good idea. "It's better to hold all elections scheduled in a year at one specific time. There will be a need to change the laws to extend or curtail the duration of assemblies for the same. It will be up to the political parties to make a consensus," he said.
Recently, in a meeting over the issue of simultaneous polls, the EC suggested that if they were to be given the power to conduct elections a year before the end of an assembly term, they would be able to conduct all elections scheduled in a year at one specific time. However, the body was not in favour of fixing dates of elections in advance.
The present laws permit the body to conduct elections at a chosen time, six months before the end of a legislative assembly or Parliament.
