UPSC Mains 2024 GS2 Q1: model answer
Examine the need for electoral reforms as suggested by various committees with particular reference to “one nation — one election” principle.
What the question wants
Why electoral reforms are needed, what committees said, and the case for and against simultaneous elections.
How to structure it
Intro: Free and fair elections are part of the basic structure. Body: (1) Committees; (2) Case for ONOE; (3) Concerns. Conclusion: ONOE needs wide consensus. Reforms on funding transparency and criminal candidates are equally urgent.
- 1(1) Committees
- 2(2) Case for ONOE
- 3(3) Concerns
Model answer
Free and fair elections are part of the basic structure. Money power, criminalisation and frequent polls have led many committees to suggest reforms.
Committees
- Dinesh Goswami (1990) and Indrajit Gupta (1998): State funding of elections.
- Law Commission's 170th Report (1999): simultaneous elections, curbs on criminal candidates.
- Parliamentary Standing Committee (2015) and Law Commission draft report (2018) on simultaneous polls.
- High-Level Committee under Ram Nath Kovind (2024): Lok Sabha and Assembly polls together, local bodies within 100 days; the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 followed and was sent to a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
Case for ONOE
- Lower cost; less diversion of security forces and officials.
- Model Code of Conduct would not stall governance repeatedly.
- Higher turnout and focus on long-term policy.
Concerns
- Curtailing Assembly terms after a mid-term collapse hurts federalism.
- National issues may overshadow State issues.
- Huge EVM and VVPAT needs.
ONOE needs wide consensus. Reforms on funding transparency and criminal candidates are equally urgent.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
Law Commission 170th Kovind Committee 2024 129th Amendment Bill MCC federalism
Where most answers lose marks
- Treating ONOE as the only reform.
Same theme in Prelims
Consider the following statements in respect of questions asked by the Members in the Parliament of India :
- 1. Unstarred questions are those to which a Member desires an oral answer in the House.
- 2. Starred questions are those to which a Member desires a written answer.
- 3. No supplementary question can be asked on an unstarred question.
Which one of the following conclusions based on the above statements is correct ?
Answer (c) & explanation
Only one statement is correct (c). Statement 3 is right: an unstarred question gets a written answer, so no supplementary question can follow. Statement 1 is wrong: unstarred questions get written, not oral, answers. Statement 2 is wrong: a starred question, marked with an asterisk, gets an oral answer on the floor, and supplementaries may follow. Statements 1 and 2 swap the two types. So options (a), (b) and (d) fail.
Notice the third type: a short notice question is on a matter of urgent public importance, asked with less than ten days' notice and answered orally. Question Hour is usually the first hour of a sitting, followed by Zero Hour, an Indian innovation not found in the Rules of Procedure.
a clean swap of definitions. Remember: the star is for the spoken answer on the floor.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following statements about the Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of the Parliament of India :
- 1. Although members of this Committee are elected from both Houses of Parliament, the Chairperson of this Committee is appointed by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
- 2. Twenty members are elected by the Rajya Sabha and ten members by the Lok Sabha.
- 3. No Minister, except for the Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, is eligible to be a member of this Committee.
- 4. Members are elected for a fixed term of two years from the date they enter their office.
Which one of the following conclusions based on the above statements is correct ?
Answer (d) & explanation
No statement is correct (d). The Committee on the Welfare of SCs and STs has 30 members. Statement 1 is wrong: the Speaker appoints its Chairperson from among the Lok Sabha members. Statement 2 is wrong: 20 members come from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha, the reverse of the statement. Statement 3 is wrong: no Minister at all can be a member. Statement 4 is wrong: the term is one year, not two. So options (a), (b) and (c) fail.
Notice the pattern: like the Estimates and Public Accounts committees, it is a financial-style committee where Ministers are barred. Its job is to examine the work of the National Commissions for SCs and STs and the implementation of safeguards.
four confident details, all slightly off. When every line has a number or an office, check each one.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following statements :
- I. On the dissolution of the House of the People, the Speaker shall not vacate his/her office until immediately before the first meeting of the House of the People after the dissolution.
- II. According to the provisions of the Constitution of India, a Member of the House of the People on being elected as Speaker shall resign from his/her political party immediately.
- III. The Speaker of the House of the People may be removed from his/her office by a resolution of the House of the People passed by a majority of all the then Members of the House, provided that no resolution shall be moved unless at least fourteen days' notice has been given of the intention to move the resolution.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Answer (c) & explanation
Statements I and III are correct (c). Statement I is right: under Article 94, on dissolution of the Lok Sabha the Speaker stays in office until just before the first meeting of the new House. Statement III is right: the Speaker may be removed by a resolution passed by a majority of all the then members, after at least 14 days' notice. Both lines are copied almost word for word from Article 94. Statement II is wrong: nothing in the Constitution asks the Speaker to leave the party.
Notice that resigning from the party is a convention in Britain, not a rule in India. The Speaker decides defection cases under the Tenth Schedule and certifies Money Bills. The Deputy Speaker post stayed vacant for the whole 17th Lok Sabha.
a good practice dressed as a constitutional rule. Ask, "Which Article says this?"
Fell for this one? Most aspirants do. The PYQ Book puts every UPSC trap side by side, so the pattern finally clicks. Try the free sample
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Fresh examples from current affairs
ECI eases SIR verification: BLOs to collect documents at home, hearings online only in exceptional cases
On 26 September 2026 the Election Commission eased verification in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. For electors served notice as unmapped or for logical discrepancies, BLOs will now collect documents at home and upload them on ECINet. Hearings will be held only in exceptional cases, preferably online.
UPSC angle: Prelims: BLO, ERO, DEO roles; Registration of Electors Rules 1960. · Mains: Balancing roll purity with inclusion of the poor and migrants.
26 Sep 2026
Seat reservation for Limboo and Tamang STs in Sikkim is sub judice
On 13 August 2026 the Ministry of Tribal Affairs told Lok Sabha that reservation of Sikkim Assembly seats for the Limboo and Tamang Scheduled Tribes is sub judice before the Supreme Court in SLP (Civil) No. 26490/2023. So, under Lok Sabha rules, no details could be given. The case raises Articles 332 and 371F.
UPSC angle: Prelims: Article 371F.
13 Aug 2026
SIR Phase III: enumeration begins in Odisha, Mizoram, Sikkim and Manipur
The Election Commission of India began the Enumeration Phase of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) Phase III in Odisha, Mizoram, Sikkim and Manipur on 30 May 2026. Ordered on 14 May under Article 324 and Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, Phase III covers 16 States and 3 UTs and about 36.73 crore electors.
UPSC angle: Prelims: Article 324, RP Act 1950 Section 21. · Mains: electoral roll integrity.
31 May 2026
West Bengal records 91.66% turnout in Phase II, highest since Independence
West Bengal recorded 91.66% provisional turnout in Phase II of the 2026 Assembly election on 29 April 2026, after 93.19% in Phase I. The combined figure of 92.47% is the State's highest; the earlier peak was 84.72% in 2011. Women voted slightly more than men in Phase II.
UPSC angle: Prelims: election facts.
29 Apr 2026Learn the concept
Question text as printed in the official UPSC question paper: https://www.upsc.gov.in/sites/default/files/QP_CSM_2024_GenStud_II_03102024.pdf The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.