 bill no 245 of  2017 the constitution (amendment) bill, 2017 by shri rajiv pratap rudy,  mp a billfurther to amend the constitution of indiabe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-eighth year of the republic of  india as follows:—short title1 this act may be called the constitution (amendment) act, 2017amendment of article 172"(1a) subject to the provisions of clause (1), parliament may, by law, extend or curtail  the duration of the term of the legislative assembly of a state so that elections to all the state legislative assemblies may coincide with the general elections to the house of the people by the year 2024curtailing the duration of the term of the state legislative assemblies so that the elections to the state legislative assemblies are held simultaneously with the general elections to the house of the people by the year 2024"3 for article 326 of the constitution, the following article shall be substituted, namely:—substitution of new article for article 326"326 the elections to the house of the people and to the legislative assembly of every state shall be held simultaneously on the basis of adult suffrage; that is to say, every person who is a citizen of india and who is not less than eighteen years of age on such date as may be fixed in that behalf by or under any law made by the appropriate legislature and is not otherwise disqualified under this constitution or any law made by the appropriate legislature on the ground of non-residence, unsoundness of mind, crime or corrupt or illegal practice, shall be entitled to be registered as a voter at any such election"elections to the house of the people and to the legislative assemblies of states to be held simultaneously on the basis of adult suffrage510 statement of objects and reasonsthe constitution of india has vested the election commission of india the superintendence, direction and control of the entire process for conduct of elections to parliament and legislature of every state however, frequent elections across the country have placed indian polity perennially in an election mode this will hamper long-term policy making because every decision of the state or central government is seen as a reason for voteson an average the country witnesses, elections to about five to seven state assemblies every year adding to it is the elections to the third tier of government ie panchayati raj institutions and municipal bodies in rural and urban areas respectively, bye-elections etc this has substantially increased the number of elections in any given year with multiple elections, the model code of conduct is in force for most of the time which prevents the government from initiating new projects and ultimately slow down development work it affects stability and economic developmentbesides the lok sabha elections in 2014, elections were held to about fifteen states assemblies during march 2014-may 2016 in 2014 alone, elections were held in march-may (lok sabha, andhra pradesh, telangana, odisha and sikkim), september-october (haryana, maharashtra) and state assemblies were announced within a month of concluding elections to other state assemblies this would not only end up negatively impacting administrative and developmental activities in the poll bound states/regions but also substantially increase the cost of conducting elections to the largest democracy in the worldin lieu of this, the standing committee on personnel, public grievances, law and justice submitted its report on the "feasibility of holding simultaneous elections to the house of people (lok sabha) and state legislative assemblies" in december 2015the committee report suggested that the holding of simultaneous elections to lok sabha and state assemblies would reduce—(1) the massive expenditure that is currently incurred for the conduct of separate elections;(2) the policy paralysis that results from the imposition of the model code of conduct during elections time;(3) impact on delivery of essential services; and (4) burden on crucial manpower that is deployed during election time the election commission is of the view that simultaneous elections will give enough time for the elected incumbent government to formulate policies and implement programs continuously for a longer period without any interruption caused by imposition of model code of conduct in fact, the election commission has favored holding simultaneous elections to the lok sabha and state assemblies however, it is for all the political parties to come together on board for hold such synchronized elections of indiathe bill, therefore, seeks to amend the constitution with a view to curtail or extend the duration of legislative assemblies of states so as to ensure that the elections to the state legislative assemblies are held simultaneously with the general elections to the house of the people by the year 2024hence this billnew delhi;rajiv pratap rudynovember 27, 2017 annexure [extract from the constitution of india]|                                                                                            ||---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| duration of                                                                                 || state                                                                                       || legislatures                                                                               || 172                                                                                        || (1                                                                                          || ) every legislative assembly of every state, unless sooner dissolved, shall                 || continue for five years from the date appointed for its first meeting and no longer and the || expiration of the said period of five years shall operate as a dissolution of the assembly: |provided that the said period may, while a proclamation of emergency is in operation, be extended by parliament by law for a period not exceeding one year at a time and not extending in any case beyond a period of six months after the proclamation has ceased to operate(2) the legislative council of a state shall not be subject to dissolution, but as nearly as possible one-third of the members thereof shall retire as soon as may be on the expiration of every second year in accordance with the provisions made in that behalf by parliament by law|      |     |     |     |     |    ||-------|------|------|------|------|-----|326 the elections to the house of the people and to the legislative assembly of every state shall be on the basis of adult suffrage; that is to say, every person who is a citizen of india and who is not less than eighteen years of age on such date as may be fixed in that behalf by or under any law made by the appropriate legislature and is not othewise disqualified under this constitution or any law made by the appropriate legislature on the ground of non-residence, unsoundness of mind, crime or corrupt or illegal practice, shall be entitled to be registered as a voter at any such electionelections to the house of the people and to the legislative assemblies of states to be on the basis of adult suffrage       lok  sabha———— a billfurther to amend the constitution of india————(shri rajiv pratap rudy, mp)gmgipmrnd—2647ls(s3)—19-12-2017