According to the media report, the central government is contemplating to make the next Lok Sabha ahead of time, which is due in April 2019. Times of India report, states that many states will have assembly elections in the next year.
The Election Commission is informally considering the possibility of getting the Lok Sabha elections held in Nov-Dec 2018 with several other state legislative elections. Other secretaries, including former secretary general of the Lok Sabha Subhash Kashyap, are being consulted on this issue. For quite some time now Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP have also been advocating to hold the elections together.
According to the sources of Times of India, the Lok Sabha elections can be held six months earlier to the scheduled date and there is no need to make any amendments to the Constitution regarding this. In his statement to the TOI Subhash Kashyap said that if the Lok Sabha elections are due in the coming 6 months than the election commission can prepone and hold the elections six months earlier and the Constitution need not be amended for this. However, BJP and the NDA will have to have a consensus with the opposition parties to hold the Lok Sabha elections early.
Assembly elections will be held in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram next year, from these apart from Mizoram all the other states are ruled by BJP government. As per the reports previously BJD in Odhissa and TDP in Telangana had benefited from the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections being held together.
Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh will be facing the assembly elections later this year.
BJP has well in advanced already started its election campaign for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in addition to the Gujarat assembly elections. BJP party President Amit Shah is taking extra measures to ensure victory at any cost. He has also initiated a tour across India and visit all the state’s BJP office bearers, leaders, and intellectuals. The agenda of this tour is to give instruction to the party workers for the election campaign and provide a solution to the difficulties faced by them so that the party can lure as many as voters possible to vote for BJP. Shah also visits the houses of minors and have lunch with them to gain the confidence of the backward classes.
Amit Shah had started his journey by eating lunch at a Dalit BJP leader’s house in Gujarat.