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NEW DELHI: While BJP’s proposal for ‘one nation, one poll’ may not be feasible due to lack of consensus, it might be plausible, at least theoretically, to bunch 11 state polls with the Lok Sabha elections due next year, party sources said. With simultaneous polls, even in two phases over 2019 and 2024 elections, requiring legal changes and a strong political consensus, a coordinated effort by NDA-ruled states might yield a partial result.

On paper, 11 states have been identified that could participate in such an exercise. Polls in Odisha , Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Sikkim are anyway timed with the LS polls in the normal course. While it could be an option to bring forward polls for assemblies like Haryana and Jharkhand that end within a couple of months of the general elections, the issue is about states scheduled to go to polls a couple of months before the 2019 LS elections.

In four states — MP, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Mizoram — polls are due early December. They could seek central rule for two-three months before seeking a fresh mandate if their elections have to coincide with the LS polls.

Politically, except in Congress-ruled Mizoram, BJP could get the other states to agree. CMs of these states could argue for a small spell of central rule “in the interest of greater benefit of the country”, sources said.

So, 11 states — MP, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Telangana, Andhra, Odisha, Jharkhand, Haryana, Sikkim and Arunachal — could go to polls together, according to such a scenario.

