There is no greater need today than for the country to vigorously pursue and implement the idea of ‘one nation, one election’. With India on the cusp of achieving rapid economic growth, we must ensure that development on all fronts is not hampered by frequent elections.
The idea of reverting to simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies was rightly mooted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the cycle of continuous elections was not only affecting the developmental process and good governance, but also forcing the political class to typically think in terms of immediate electoral gains rather than focus on long-term programmes and policies for the overall progress of the nation and its people.
No harm to federal structureThe Prime Minister’s idea has also been endorsed by the Election Commission. The Chief Election Commissioner, Nasim Zaidi, recently observed that holding elections simultaneously would certainly save money, time and energy, and ensure effective governance. Even as a national debate is raging, with many political parties and the Election Commission favouring the conduct of elections together to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, some people are falsely arguing that such a move would affect the federal polity and democracy of the country. Nothing can be more far-fetched than this.
The fears that holding simultaneous elections would affect the federal nature of the Indian polity appear to be completely unfounded. As a matter of fact, it would help in better coordination between the governments at the Centre and in various States, rather than moving the country towards becoming a unitary state. Did the holding of simultaneous elections between 1952 and 1967 (when this cycle was broken for politically motivated reasons) in any way make the country a unitary state at that time? Is there any evidence to this effect for anybody to draw such a conclusion?
India’s parliamentary democracy, based on strong constitutional principles, is mature enough not to slip into a unitary model just because of simultaneous elections. The country will achieve progress and remain strong only when the Centre and States act as equal partners, irrespective of the political differences of those governing at the national and regional levels.
Holding simultaneous elections would make our democracy stronger and healthier as it would provide a level playing field to all the players across all States rather than giving an advantage to a few players here and there due to their political equations with the party in power at the Centre.
Politically savvy votersAlthough some data might show that there has been a tendency among voters to choose the same party at the Centre and in the States during simultaneously held elections in the past, it is politically naïve to simply infer that this would be the general trend whenever polls are held. India’s vibrant political diversity is too good to allow same party domination always at the Centre and the States.
Besides, there is also talk that national issues would dominate the agenda of the political parties, particularly pan-India parties, during simultaneous elections, while relegating State and regional issues to the background. That kind of thinking is tantamount to straitjacketing the Indian voters, who I think are politically quite savvy to decide what lies in their best interests, irrespective of the various methods adopted by both national and regional parties to woo them.
It must be remembered that President Pranab Mukherjee also articulated his views in favour of holding simultaneous elections. While replying to a question from a student during a special class held to mark Teacher’s Day at the Rajendra Prasad Sarvodaya Vidyalaya in Rashtrapati Bhavan, he observed: “Throughout the year, some election or the other is happening and regular work comes to a standstill with the code of conduct being implemented. This doesn’t only stop work in the State but also in the Central government.”
He said the idea of holding all elections together was emerging among political parties and added: “The Election Commission can also put in their idea and efforts on holding the polls together and that will be highly beneficial.”
Reducing expenditureWhile the cost of holding Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the present disaggregated form was estimated to be around Rs.4,500 crore, it has been reported that the Election Commission, in its views submitted to the Law Ministry, put the likely cost of holding simultaneous elections at over Rs.9,000 crore.
A Parliamentary Standing Committee, which also backed the holding of simultaneous elections, had cited several reasons for exploring the feasibility. Apart from reducing the massive expenditure involved in conducting separate elections every year, it was pointed out that “the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct puts on hold the entire range of development activities of the Union and State governments. Frequent elections lead to imposition of MCC over prolonged periods of time leading to policy paralysis and government deficit.”
In fact, veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani had earlier suggested holding concurrent elections, and had also taken up this issue with the President at that time.
The advantages of holding simultaneous elections far outweigh the disadvantages as the process would not only vastly reduce the burden on the exchequer, but put an end to the practice of frequent deployment of police and other government staff on election duty in different States.
No doubt, conducting concurrent elections is a humongous logistical task in terms of deployment of personnel, EVMs and other material. But the time has come to make a beginning and ensure political and administrative stability both at the Central and State levels for the country to march unhindered on the path to progress.
Once a political consensus is built on the issue, constitutional amendments could be put in place for fixed tenure of the legislative bodies and the process kick-started. That thousands of people gave suggestions on the MyGov Web portal supporting the idea for holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies is itself a pointer that the time has come for carrying out the much-needed electoral reform.
M. Venkaiah Naidu is Union Minister, Information and Broadcasting, Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India.
