16 Dec

One Nation One Election

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Content

• What is Simultaneous Elections?
• Why the demands for simultaneous elections?
• Commissions/Committees
• Some Criticisms and Impediments to simultaneous Elections

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What is Simultaneous Elections?

• Simultaneous Elections is defined as structuring the Indian election cycle in a manner that elections to Lok Sabha and State assemblies are synchronized together. In such scenario, a voter would normally cast his/her vote for electing members of Lok Sabha and State Assembly on a single day and at the same time.

History

• Though Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha elections started simultaneously in the fifties, in time they developed a natural rhythm of their own, responding to their specific contexts.

Why the demands for simultaneous elections?

1. Reduce Policy Paralysis due to frequent elections.

• Currently, the Indian polity is in a perennial election mode where the country witnesses 4-5 assembly elections and a number of local body elections throughout the year.
  • Model code of conduct from the time of announcement of elections actually put a lot of limitations on new developmental projects and schemes by both center
    and states.
  • NITI Aayog has found that MCC is in force for an average of 4 months every year, thus limiting the work of development for 33% of the period in a year.
  • Ministers (being politicians) focus more on elections rather than on various ministries/departments.

2. Diversion of Human Resource (like teachers and other government staff) for election purpose

3. Focus on long term goal/ politically difficult decisions

• Frequent elections forces government to focus on short term populist measures due to the electoral process.

4. Saving Expenses: Simultaneous elections will save a lot of money – by ECI as well as by the Political Parties.

5. Easy for Election Commission

• Election commission will have to focus on election only once or twice in five years according to plan taken

6. Limit the use of security forces for election work

7. Voter Participation may increase as they have to come only once or twice to the booth.

8. Other problems due to frequent elections

• Disrupts normal public life and impacts the functioning of essential services
• Frequent elections perpetuates casteism and communalism.
  • For Chief Election Commissioner wrote that elections are polarizing events which have accentuated casteism, communalism, corruption and crony capitalism.

Commissions/Committees

• Law Commission of India headed by Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy in its 170th report (1999) on Reform of Electoral laws recommended simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and State legislative assemblies. It was reiterated by draft recommendations of LCI in Aug 2018.
  • It also provided a mechanism of preventing dissolution of assembly by replacing no
    confidence motion with a constructive no confidence through appropriate amendments.
• The Department related parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievance, Law and Justice in its 79th report (Dec 2015) and recommended holding simultaneous elections.
• NITI Aayog in a white paper released in 2017 also supported simultaneous elections.
• Now, on 1st Sep 2023, the central government has constituted a committee under the chairmanship of former President Ram Nath Kovind to examine the issue.

Some Criticisms and Impediments to simultaneous Elections

1. May undermine federal structure and democracy.

• Constitution recognizes existence on 28 states which have a constitutional status of their own in matters of elections and government formation. Any violation of this federal structure may be seen as the violation of the basic structure of the constitution.
• Keeping absolute power in check: In our constitutional scheme, the federal structure is an important check upon the concentration of power (buttressed by the existence of the Rajya Sabha at the Central Level). This federal structure is sustained by a plurality of political outfits, at the State Level. But simultaneous elections may undermine this plurality, and risk concentration of power.
• Elections are about democratic representation everything else is secondary (including
  expenditure).

2. Simultaneous Elections may hamper public participation and debate:

• In the Indian Constitutional scheme, we don’t have public participation in law making a guaranteed right. Elections are the only form of participation in public sphere. Relatively regular and frequent elections allow for more extended public participation and debate;

3. Impractical: Needs constitutional amendment; Preventing decoupling would be a challenge.
a. Beginning the process would be challenging.

• Some sate assemblies will have to be extended while some will have to be cut short – this would be unfair to sovereign democratic mandate given to states in the first place.

b. How to stop decoupling cycle to start once again

• If Lok Sabha is dissolved before five years -> what happens to all assemblies
• If any other state government falls -> what happens to this state
• Options: Constructive No Confidence Motion
  • Instead of dissolving invite opposition to form government for rest of the period.

c. Not possible in existing constitutional framework: Constitutional Amendment would be required to initiate the simultaneous election process in articles such as Article 83 (fixed tenure for LS i.e. five years), Article 85, Article 172 (Fixed tenure for legislative assembly i.e. 5 years), Article 174 and 356 of the constitution.

4. Local issues may be put to backburners

5. Benefit national parties at the cost of regional players

6. Frequent elections keep governments on alert

7. If Model Code of Conduct is an issue – amend and modify it

Conclusion1 (if you are not supporting simultaneous elections)

• Constitutional experts like Gautam Bhatia say that administrative benefits from simultaneous elections are overstated at best, and non-existent at worst. But, the damage to federalism and democracy may be big. Therefore, the idea of simultaneous elections is a bad one, and ought not to be acted upon.

Conclusion2: (If you are supporting simultaneous elections)

Practice Questions:

• Discuss the key problems simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and State Legislative assemblies are expected to solve. [10 marks, 150 words]
• ‘Simultaneous election to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies will limit the amount of time and money spent in electioneering but it will reduce the government’s accountability to the people’ Discuss [10 marks, 150 words] [CSM 2017]