Proposal to change India’s voting system to allow simultaneous polls fails to pass lower Parliament

NEW DELHI — A controversial legislation submitted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to change India’s voting system failed to pass Tuesday in the country’s lower house of Parliament. Critics say the proposed system will undermine federalism and risks shifting India toward a presidential election model and could give unfair poll advantage to the governing parties at the federal level in state elections. As per the draft, the legislation if approved as a law can be put into action in “the first sitting” of the lower house of the parliament after a national election — which implies it can’t be implemented until 2029 when the current government’s term ends. Unlike its two previous terms, Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party does not have a majority in the lower house of the parliament and banks on its partners from the National Democratic Alliance and friendly parties to get laws passed.