हम संसद, राज्य विधानसभाओं और स्थानीय निकायों के एक साथ चुनाव के विचार के प्रति प्रतिबद्ध हैं, ताकि ख़र्च घटे, सरकारी संसाधनों और सुरक्षा बलों का कुशल उपयोग हो और नीति नियोजन प्रभावी हो। हम इस मुद्दे पर सभी दलों के साथ सहमति बनाने का प्रयास करेंगे।

The 2019 promise is carefully hedged, and the hedge is the fairest way to read it: "We are committed to the idea of simultaneous elections for Parliament, State assemblies and local bodies… We will try to build consensus on this issue with all parties."

A promise to try is met by trying. What the term produced was a High Level Committee under former President Ram Nath Kovind, constituted to "examine the issue of simultaneous elections and make recommendations for holding simultaneous elections in the country". Its recommendations were converted into legislation, and the Ministry of Law and Justice described that to the Lok Sabha on 20 December 2024: "The Government has introduced in Lok Sabha on 17-12-2024, a Bill, namely, the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024 which seeks to insert a new article 82A and to amend the articles 83 and 172 of the Constitution and another Bill, namely the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024."

Three things follow from the dates and the text.

The Bills were introduced on 17 December 2024, six months after the term this promise belongs to had ended. Within the 2019-24 term, the output was a committee and its report.

The Bills are narrower than the promise. The manifesto named "Parliament, State assemblies and local bodies"; the constitutional amendment covers "simultaneous elections to the House of the People and Legislative Assemblies together". Local bodies, which are governed by state law and state election commissions, are not in it.

And consensus, which the promise made the operative test, has not been reached. The Bills were referred to a joint committee of Parliament rather than passed, and a constitutional amendment of this kind needs a two-thirds majority in both Houses plus ratification by half the state legislatures. The government's own answer defends the idea against the federalism objection — noting that "the first four General elections to the House of the People and all the State Legislative Assemblies were held simultaneously" — which is a response to opposition, not evidence of agreement.

One related recommendation is worth recording because it appears as a separate promise in the 2024 manifesto: the committee proposed that "article 325 may suitably be amended to the effect that the ECI shall make the electoral roll and Elector's Photo Identity Card in consultation with the State Election Commissions", which is the common electoral roll.

Effort was made, machinery was created and a Bill exists. No election has been synchronised, local bodies were dropped, and the consensus the promise turned on has not materialised. Our verdict is partly accurate, and the delivery within the term is recorded as not delivered.