‘One Nation, One Election’ has been in the news for some time now and all eyes are now on the indian government and its next move to achieve this goal to hold simultaneous elections.
Despite not having a majority, the BJP is confident that the NDA Government will be able to pull through the bill in the Parliament.
The recommendations were made by a panel headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind.
Here are the finer details of its recommendations.
The high-level committee headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind, in March this year gave the recommendation to hold simultaneous Parliamentary and State Assembly elections which will be followed by synchronized local body polls within 100 days.
The BJP since it came to power more than a decade ago has been advocating the “One Nation, One Election” model.
Despite not having the majority on its own, a top government functionary said on Sunday that the bill will be brought in this term.
He stated,
“There should be no confusion about the sthayi niti (policy stability) under a government elected for a third successive term after 60 years.”
The high-level body had submitted its report to President Droupadi Murmu on March 14.
Is ‘One Nation, One Election’ a Practical Idea?
The “One Nation, One Election” model envisages holding elections to Lok Sabha, all state Legislative Assemblies and urban and rural local bodies (municipalities and panchayats) at the same time.
At present the elections are held independently from one another and depend upon the terms of every individual elected body.
The HLC report highlighted the fact that in present times five to six elections are held every year and to it if we add the municipalities and Panchayat elections, the number increases manifold.
The main factors which favour holding simultaneous elections:
- Repeated elections are a big burden on the exchequer and the money spent by political parties is added, it increases by a gargantuan proportion.
- Unsynchronized elections lead to instability, disrupting supply chains, investment and economic growth.
- Government machinery utilized for conducting elections also causes hardship to citizens.
- The ability to discharge duties is severely affected because of the regular use of government officials and security forces
- The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) imposed just before elections causes policy paralysis and slows down the pace of the development of the economy.
- Long and tedious elections also cause ‘voters’ fatigue’ and diminish their interest in participating in the electoral exercise.
The HLC gave the following recommendations -.
Amending the constitution to enable simultaneous elections in two steps-
a) Simultaneous elections will be held to Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for which no ratification by the states are required.
b) Elections for the local bodies are held 100 days after the elections to Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. This will have to be ratified by one-half of the states.
The Constitution will have to be amended so that the Election Commission can create a single Voter ID card which can be used in elections to all three tiers of government. The election commission will prepare a single electoral roll and election ID in consultation with the State Election Commissions and will require ratification from one half of the states.
In the event of a hung parliament, no confidence motion or any such eventuality, fresh elections will be held to constitute the new Lok Sabha or state Assembly for the unexpired term of the House.
The Election Commission of India will cater to the logistics in advance with consultation with State Election Commissions
Legal experts have stated that five articles of the constitution will have to be Amended before the ‘One Nation, One Election’ will achieve fruition.
Failure to amend the articles will leave the road open to litigation on charges of violating India’s federal structure.
The articles include Article 83 which pertains to the term of the parliament, Article 85 about the dissolution of the Parliament by the President, Article 172 pertaining to the term of the state legislature, Article 174 about the dissolution of the state legislature Article 356 about the imposition of President’s rule.
Simultaneous elections have never been held in India since Independence. In 1957 the Election Commission of India in consultation with the central government, state governments, and political parties held simultaneous elections in seven states, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Bombay, Punjab, Madras, and Mysore.
The situation was similar in 1967 until central governments used constitutional provisions to dismiss state governments before their term expired. An era of coalition governments in States and centres kept collapsing and the nation saw elections at different times throughout the year.
This year a few states like Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, and Odisha, had elections along with the Lok Sabha elections. Later this year Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana will go to polls while the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir must hold its first Assembly election in six years before September 30.
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