The Union cabinet on Thursday approved bills aimed at realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project of simultaneous national and state elections, with the proposed legislation likely to be tabled next week, sources said.

“One nation, one election” has been on Modi’s agenda since he assumed office in 2014, and he is determined to fulfil it in his third term, BJP leaders said.

Despite the 2024 Lok Sabha polls denying the BJP a majority, Modi wants to go ahead with the project to assert his political dominance, they added. The BJP manifesto for the general election had promised to implement nationwide concurrent polls.

There was, however, no official confirmation of the cabinet approving the bills. Sources said the government cannot announce cabinet decisions outside the House when Parliament is in session.

BJP leaders added that the government might not push for the passage of the bills during the current session and opt for further scrutiny.

“I have learnt that the bills will be referred to a parliamentary panel for further scrutiny and wider consultations,” a former minister said.

The Union cabinet had in September accepted the recommendations of a high-level committee, headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, to hold simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, Assemblies and local bodies. This was to be introduced in phases, and not all at once, the panel said.

Sources said the Union cabinet approved two bills on Thursday in keeping with the Kovind panel’s recommendations, focusing on conducting the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections together. The matter of synchronising the local body polls will be taken up later, they said.

The first bill proposes a constitutional amendment to club together the elections to the Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies. The second looks to align these with Assembly elections in the Union Territories of Puducherry, Jammu and Kashmir, and Delhi.

Despite being dependent on allies in the Lok Sabha, the government is confident of the bill’s passage, with many parties outside the NDA supportive of the idea. However, the Congress and other key Opposition parties are against it.

Modi has since 2014 been arguing that having elections round the year creates hurdles to the path of development and puts a huge strain on the country’s resources.

“A glorious and prosperous India is being built under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi…. But there is one hurdle to India’s progress and development, which is the frequent holding of elections,” Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said at an event on Wednesday.