Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
A majority of Indians continue to support the idea of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, according to the India Today Mood of the Nation (MOTN) survey for August 2026. However, support for “One Nation, One Election” has dipped from the previous survey.
According to the August 2026 MOTN survey, 70.4% of respondents said they support the idea of holding Lok Sabha and state assembly elections simultaneously, compared with 74% in January 2026 and 65.2% in August 2025.
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Meanwhile, 24.1% said they do not support the proposal, up from 20.1% in January 2026 and 23.4% in August 2025.
The Mood of the Nation is a bi-annual survey that’s been commissioned by the India Today Group for around two decades now. The August 2026 edition was conducted by CVoter with a sample of 25,184 people directly surveyed between July 1 and August 25. Another set of 91,795 interviews conducted over the last six months as part of CVoter’s regular tracking were also used to formulate the findings of the August Mood of the Nation 2026.
The findings come amid a renewed political debate over the feasibility of implementing the Modi government’s “One Nation, One Election” proposal in 2029.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has asserted that simultaneous elections cannot be held in 2029 and warned that the Congress and other Opposition parties would launch a nationwide campaign against the proposed legislation, calling it a “Constitutional monstrosity” in a parliamentary democracy.
His remarks came a day after PP Chaudhary, chairman of the joint parliamentary panel examining the related bills, said simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly elections in 2029 were possible if the Constitution were amended and state governments supported the move.
Chaudhary said that if the required constitutional amendment is passed by Parliament by 2028, states could choose to hold their assembly elections alongside the 2029 Lok Sabha polls. He stressed that states could not be directed to dissolve their assemblies and that the decision would rest with the respective chief ministers and councils of ministers.
The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, seek to synchronise Lok Sabha and state assembly elections. The bills were referred to a 31-member Joint Parliamentary Committee headed by Chaudhary for examination.
Chaudhary has argued that simultaneous polls would benefit the country, particularly young people, and reduce the administrative burden of elections. He claimed that around 30% of the time in government schools is used for poll-related work every year.
The idea is not new to India. Lok Sabha and state assembly elections were held simultaneously from 1951-52 until 1967, before premature dissolutions of state assemblies and the Lok Sabha disrupted the electoral cycle.
The latest MOTN findings suggest that while support for simultaneous elections remains high, the proposal continues to face political opposition and constitutional questions as the debate over its possible implementation in 2029 intensifies.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
