The Election Commission has told the Ministry of Law and Justice that five constitutional amendments would be required if the general elections and Assembly elections are to be held simultaneously, The Times of India reported on Monday. The government had sought the poll panel’s views in response to a private member’s bill in the Rajya Sabha.

The Election Commission told the Centre that Article 83, which deals with the duration of Houses of Parliament, may need an amendment, along with Article 85 (on dissolution of Lok Sabha by the president), Article 172 (relating to the duration of state legislatures), Article 174 (relating to dissolution of state assemblies) and Article 356 (on President’s Rule).

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in an interview to News 18, ruled out the possibility of the Lok Sabha elections being held later this year along with the Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. “Till the time the Constitution is changed, and there is consensus on the issues, the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections will not overlap,” Jaitley said. “And going by the reaction the issue has evoked, it seems people [the Opposition] are not in favour of any such move.”

The Election Commission had said in 2017 that it was logistically possible to hold simultaneous Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections from September 2018.

Last week, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, had said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of holding simultaneous polls was not “feasible”. He made the statement after Modi said in television interviews in January that his government would focus on changing the way elections are organised.

President Ram Nath Kovind, too, in his address on the first day of the Budget Session, urged political parties to reach a consensus on the matter.