ONOE and the question of federalism |
In December 2025, the Lok Sabha extended the tenure of the joint parliamentary committee examining the draft ‘One Nation, One Election’ (ONOE) Bill to the last week of the 2026 Budget session. The legislation is likely to be introduced and passed before the session ends on 2 April, unless deferred. It has already been ruled that the Bill will not need ratification from 50 per cent of the states.
The Centre has increasingly been flexing its muscles to show who’s the boss. States have been made to surrender both autonomy and finances without promised gains, while Union cesses and surcharges — rising from Rs 1.99 lakh crore in 2016-17 to Rs 5.82 lakh crore in 2026-27 — have shrunk the divisible pool. Politicisation of constitutional offices and interference in state policies, from education and health to language, has intensified, as seen in the abrupt reshuffling of governors.
All of a piece with the Centre showing the states the middle finger. And all the more reason why the Justice Kurian Joseph Committee report on Centre-state relations is so significant.
Chaired by a former Supreme Court judge, Part I of the report — in Tamil and English — was tabled on 16 February in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. It covered 10 key subjects, including language policy, the appointment and role of Governors and state responsibilities in framing policies related to education, health, delimitation, elections and GST.
The integration of 552 princely states with British India between 1947 and 1950 shaped the Constitution’s tilt towards a strong Centre. But, argued Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin while appointing the committee in April 2025, this model has failed to deliver.
The report notes that despite the Supreme Court’s emphatic ruling in S.R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994) that federalism is part of the ‘basic structure of the Constitution’, the drift towards the Centre continues.
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On the move towards ONOE, the committee notes that the draft legislation........