The committee looking at "One Nation, One Election" is finally nearing a finish line. Sort of.

Sources close to the JPC say a draft report will go to members by the last week of May. The target? Table the final version in the monsoon session. That's ambitious, and here's why it might slip.

Headed by BJP MP P.P. Chaudhary, the panel has held over 40 meetings. Four former Chief Justices, two former CECs, 17 state reps — all deposed. But a clean consensus? Nowhere in sight. Opposition members have filed sharp dissent notes. Their core argument: synchronising polls cuts short elected state assemblies, which smells like a basic structure violation.

The government's pitch is simpler. Elections cost roughly ₹6,500 crore per cycle. Add the policy paralysis from the model code, and you get a case for combining them. Save money, let governments govern, stop endless campaigning. That's the elevator version, at least.

The sticky bit is Article 368 and the likely need for state ratifications. Legal folks who've testified are split. Some say an amendment is enough. Others argue you can't rush it without a political consensus that isn't there yet.

And the EC? They've been asked for a logistics white paper on whether our EVM-VVPAT setup can even handle simultaneous polls. A senior official told me, off the record, it's "doable but not before 2029". So even if the bill clears Parliament this monsoon, the first synchronised poll is at least three years away. Maybe more.