The Election Commission of India and the state election commissions have passed a resolution to “synergise” their laws, even as a joint parliamentary committee mulls legislation to hold simultaneous polls in India.

In the first National Round Table Conference of ECI and State Election Commissioners to be held since 1999, a national declaration was passed “unanimously” to this effect on Tuesday, an Election Commission spokesperson said.

The Election Commission, appointed by the Centre, holds Assembly, parliamentary, presidential and vice-presidential polls. The SECs, appointed by the states, hold panchayat and municipal elections.

The declaration says: “ECI and SECs will work together to synergise the laws relating to the elections to panchayats and municipal bodies with those relating to the elections to Parliament and state legislatures.

“In national and constitutional interest, ECI suggested to work out mutually acceptable mechanisms and legally viable frameworks to synergise with all SECs across the country for all possible election processes, including the sharing of ECINET, EVMs, electoral rolls and the world-class infrastructure at IIIDEM (ECI training institute).”

Simultaneous polls were not mentioned in the resolution.

A high-level committee under former President Ram Nath Kovind examined the proposal in 2023-24 for simultaneous polls and a single voter list for parliamentary, Assembly and local body elections.

The only Opposition member on the committee — Congress’s then Lok Sabha
leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury — declined to participate. The party and other Opposition forces opposed the proposal.