Simultaneous Polls to LS, State Assemblies
The concept of "One Nation, One Election" envisions a system in which all state and Lok Sabha elections must be held simultaneously.
This would imply that voters will vote for members of the LS and state assemblies on the same day and at the same time (or in a phased manner as the case may be).
History Simultaneous Elections in India
First General Elections to the House of People (Lok Sabha) and all State Legislative Assemblies were held simultaneously in 1951-52.
That practice continued in three subsequent General Elections held in the years 1957, 1962 and 1967. Barring a few stray cases like:
Kerala where a mid-term election was held in 1960 on the pre-mature dissolution of the Assembly, and
In Nagaland and Pondicherry where the Assembly was created only after the 1962 general elections.
Due to the premature dissolution of some Legislative Assemblies in 1968 and 1969, the cycle got disrupted.
The last occasion when we had near-simultaneous elections was in 1967.
As a result of premature dissolutions and extension of terms of both the Lok Sabha and various State Legislative Assemblies, for the last forty-eight years, there have been separate elections to Lok Sabha and States Legislative Assemblies, and the cycle of simultaneous elections has been disturbed.
Currently only four State Assemblies have been going to polls along with the Lok Sabha elections in the last two decades.
We now have at least two rounds of Assembly general elections every year.
Benefits of simultaneous elections
It would reduce the massive expenditure incurred for the conduct of separate elections every year.
Help ruling parties focus on governance instead of being constantly in election mode.
Simultaneous elections would free crucial manpower which is often deployed for prolonged periods on election duties.
The policy paralysis that results from the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) during election time would be reduced.
According to the Law Commission, simultaneous polls will boost voter turnout.
Challenges of simultaneous elections
Constitutional challenges:
It would require at least five constitutional amendments.
The five amendments in the Constitution would entail changes to
Article 83 relating to the duration of Houses of Parliament.
Article 85 relating to the dissolution of the Lok Sabha by the President.
Article 172 relating to the duration of the State legislatures.
Article 174 relating to dissolution of the State legislatures.
Article 356 relating to the imposition of President’s Rule in States.
Since it will affect federal character, at least 50% of the states will require to ratify the constitutional amendments.
Affects judgement of voters:
National and state issues are different and holding simultaneous elections is likely to affect the judgement of voters.
Reduced accountability of government:
Since elections will be held once in five years, it will reduce the government's accountability to the people.
The deployment of security forces and officials:
The deployment of security forces and officials in 700,000 polling stations located in widely varying geographic and climatic conditions, all at the same time is going to be extremely difficult.
It is precisely these problems that begun to cause elections to be held in multiple phases and on different dates even in the same state.
Logistical issue:
It would require a large number of additional electronic voting machines and paper-trail machines.
COMMENTS