Assembly elections in 11 states likely to be held simultaneously with Lok Sabha polls in 2019: Sources

Earlier in the day, BJP President Amit Shah wrote a letter to Law Commission Chairman B S Chauhan batting for One Nation One Election system in the country.

According to the sources, states of Andra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir are expected to face elections next year. (AFP)

New Delhi: In a major development, legislative assembly elections in as many as eleven states are likely to be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections next year. As per the sources, the list of these state includes those which undergo voting either few months ahead or after the Lok Sabha elections. According to the sources, states of Andra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir are expected to face elections next year. Notably, the assembly elections in most of the states in India take place either few months before or after the Lok Sabha elections. Legislative assembly elections in states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mizoram, and Chhattisgarh, take place 4-6 months prior the Lok Sabha elections, while people in states like Odisha, Andra Pradesh and Telangana vote simultaneously. On the other hand, Haryana, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand are the states in which Indian electorate choose the members of the Vidhan Sabha around 6 months after the Lok Sabha Elections. Watch Video- As most of the states are ruled by BJP, the elections are expected to take place in the year 2019. Also, after Bihar CM Nitish Kumar backed the system of 'One Nation One Election' in the country, the state is also likely to undergo elections next year, which was expecting elections in the year 2020. Therefore, after Kumar's support to the system of simultaneous elections in India, it is expected that assembly elections in Bihar are likely to be preponed and to be held in 2019 along with the Lok Sabha elections. Earlier in the day, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah wrote a letter to Law Commission Chairman B S Chauhan batting for One Nation One Election system in the country. Shah, in his letter, emphasised that with multiple elections happening throughout the year, the Model Code of Conduct impedes the government's developmental work. In the letter, written in Hindi, the BJP chief cited the examples of Indonesia, Sweden, South Africa, Belgium and Italy where simultaneous elections have proved to be successful. Shah further elucidated how One Nation One Election is not a kin to the Indian electoral system. Shah said that in India elections keep taking place throughout the year in one state or the other, usually in one five term of Lok Sabha, on an average 5 to 7 states go for assembly elections each year along with polls for local bodies.