The country had successfully seen the Parliamentary and assembly elections simultaneously till 1967. The problem arose only after then when some of the elections threw hung assemblies. The poll of the Parliament was held in 1971, a year before its full term was to expire because Prime Minister Indira Gandhi dissolved the parliament to seek a fresh mandate on the issue of Garibi Hatao (Remove Poverty). Thereafter, Parliamentary elections used to be held on time after five years except in 1980, 1991 and 1998. Assemblies have also been dissolved before completing their terms resulting in their elections either ahead of or after the parliamentary elections.
The biggest disadvantage of holding elections
almost yearly in some or other parts of the country is the heavy financial
burden on the exchequer. The concept of ‘one nation, one election’ is to
synchronise elections for the Lok Sabha and all state assemblies. The idea is
to hold these elections simultaneously, either on a single day or within a
specific time frame. Over the years, Prime Minister Modi has pushed
strongly for the idea of simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls, and
the decision to task former {resident of India Ram Nath Kovind Kovind to look
into it underscores the government's seriousness as a host of elections
approach. The assembly polls in five states were held in November and December last
year i.e. 2023. It will be followed by the Lok Sabha elections which are likely
to be held in May-June 2024.
‘One Nation One Election’ will reduce the
cost.
The main benefit of ‘One
Nation, One Election’ is the reduction in the cost of conducting elections as
each separate election requires a huge amount of financial resources. Having
simultaneous elections would ease the burden on administrative and security
forces, who otherwise are engaged multiple times in election duties. With the implementation
of 'One Nation, One Election', the government can focus more on governance
rather than being in an election mode, which often hampers policy
implementation. Simultaneous elections will increase voter turnout because it
will be easier for people to cast many votes at one time. The main difficulty
in implementing the ‘One Nation, One Election', would need the Constitution to
be suitably changed and approved by the assemblies.
Therefore, it is the considered view that simultaneous
elections will keep alive the enthusiasm of the voters but will also result in
huge savings to the public exchequer as well as avoid repetition of
administrative efforts. It is also bound to control the expenses of political
parties. Simultaneous
elections will also avoid repeated enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct
which affects administrative actions by the government.
In South Africa, elections to national as well
as provincial legislatures are held simultaneously for five years, and
municipal elections are held two years later. In the U.K., the term of the
Parliament is governed by the Fixed term. Frequent elections lead to disruption
of normal public life and impact the functioning of essential services. If
simultaneous elections are held, this period of disruption would be limited to
a certain pre-determined period.
If simultaneous elections are held, then for
the first time what happens to Assemblies whose scheduled tenure either ends
before or after the proposed date of holding elections? In such cases, terms of
some assemblies may be advanced and for some assemblies, it can be postponed by
imposing presidential rule for the time being. If, following a general election, none of the
parties can form a government and another general election becomes
necessary, the term of the House in such case after the fresh election should
be only for the remainder of what would have been the original term. Similarly,
if the government has to resign for some reason and an alternative is not
possible, then provision can be considered for a fresh election if the
remainder of the term is a comparatively longer period (to be specified) and in
other cases, rule by the Governor or President's Rule could be considered. Two windows of one-and-a-half months each may
be fixed for holding all bye-elections that become due in a particular year. If
it is considered that the above proposals for having uniform and synchronised
terms for Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies are not feasible, an alternative
proposal would be to consider provisions to have all elections, falling due in
a year together in a particular period of the year. In this arrangement, the
advantage would be that the general elections to various Legislative Assemblies
falling due in a year will be held together and not at different periods in the
year. In the year in which the Lok Sabha election is due, all the Assembly
elections of that year may also be held.
No comments:
Post a Comment