One Nation, One Election, PM Narendra Modi has emphasized this issue for the third time in his tenure. The fundamental quintessence for all elections to be held in the saving of time and money, BJP made this demand a matter of national discussion from time to time.
This time Prime minister Narendra Modi has made the statement that One nation, one election is not just a matter of discussion but it is the need of India. Every few months elections are being held somewhere in India. This affects the development works. There has been a long debate in the country about holding Lok Sabha and Assembly elections together. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also supported it.
The Election Commission, Niti Aayog, Law Commission and Constitution Review Commission have discussed this matter. However, few political parties are in favour of this. Most political parties have opposed this. In such a situation, intensive brainstorming on One Nation, One Election is necessary.
This is a post-independence era Concept
From 1951 to 1967, there was a system of holding the elections of the Center and the states. State elections have been held in full or in part with the Lok Sabha elections during this time period. In 1951-52 the elections of all the states were held along with the Lok Sabha elections, but gradually the order deteriorated due to the reorganization of the states and the dissolution of the governments.
Later on, due to dissolution of some Legislative Assemblies in 1968 and 1969, a problem was posed to the system of simultaneous elections. In fact, the Lok Sabha dissolved in December 1970. Thus, ever since elections to the State Assemblies and the Parliament have been held separately. With the Lok Sabha elections in 1957, only 76 percent of the state elections were held, while in 1962 and 1967 the figure reached 67 percent. By 1970, the tradition of holding elections came to an end.
First LK Adwani came up the discussion
In the last decade of the last century, when the Bharatiya Janata Party began to dominate the elections, the debate of holding elections to the Lok Sabha and the assemblies together again arose. Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader LK Advani is an outspoken advocate of implementing this system in the country.
Law Commission Recommendation
In 1999, during the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, the Law Commission submitted a report on this issue. The commission said in its recommendations that if the opposition comes with a no-confidence motion against a government, then at the same time it should also be sure to make a motion of confidence in favor of another alternative government.
In 2015, the Parliamentary Committee on Law and Justice recommended to hold elections simultaneously.
In 2018, the Law Commission also convened an all-party meeting on this issue in which some political parties supported this system and some opposed. Some political parties remained neutral on the subject.
PM Narendra Modi special interest
In January 2017, while addressing an event, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about conducting a feasibility study of one country one election. This need was also reiterated three months later in a meeting of state chief ministers with NITI Aayog. Earlier in December 2015, a parliamentary committee headed by Rajya Sabha member EM Sudarshan Nachiappan also insisted on the implementation of this election system.
Can hold both elections in two-phase -NITI Aayog note
A note prepared by NITI Aayog on the subject of one country one election says that elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies can be held in two phases by 2021. In October 2017, the then Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat had said that the Commission is ready to hold simultaneous elections, but the decision has to be taken at the political level.
Constitutional Amendments To Be Done Before:
To sync the term of the State Legislative Assemblies with that of the LokSabha, the term of the state legislative assemblies can be reduced and increased accordingly and for the same, a constitutional amendment would be needed
Article 83: It states that the term of the LokSabha will be five years from the date of its first sitting.
Article 85: It empowers the President to dissolve the LokSabha.
Article 172: It states that the term of the legislative assembly will be five years from the date of its first sitting.
Article 174: It empowers the Governor of the state to dissolve the Legislative Assembly.
Article 356: It authorizes the Central Government to impose President's Rule for the failure of constitutional machinery in the state.
And all these small and big amendments will also require a two-thirds majority in the House. Apart from this, in the event of the central and state governments holding elections together, many state governments will have to dissolve before their term is over, while there is no such option except for the 3 articles in the constitution when the central government dissolves the state governments Be able to do Any such attempt will be unconstitutional.
10 country conducts simultaneous elections:
There are numerous other countries which are practising the system of simultaneous elections such as Sweden, Indonesia, South Africa, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Belgium, Poland, Slovenia, Albania etc.
Looking at the American Perspective:
In America, the election day is fixed. After every 4 years, the first Tuesday, falling after the first Monday, in the month of November, is the election date. This applies to the office of the President and Vice President of the United States of America.
Like, the days for holding elections for the House of Representatives, and the Senate are also fixed. This is done between the 2nd and the 8th of November. This has been fixed statutorily, i.e. it has been fixed by a law.
In India, such a concept is not possible because of the Parliamentary form of government. Thus, one solution that can be put forward is India adopting a Presidential form of Government
Plead In Favor Of One Nation, One Election
Odisha and Andhra Pradesh have set an example for the nation -- Those supporting this idea and issue give an example of Odisha. Supporters say that the four assembly elections in Odisha since 2004 were held along with the Lok Sabha elections and the results have been different. Supporters also argue that the code of conduct in Odisha will also apply for a short time. It is due to which there is less interference in the functioning of the government than in other states. The same happened in Andhra Pradesh, where the Lok Sabha elections and assembly elections were held together but the results were different.
Elections held simultaneously: Elections have been held four times in the country before. One country one election is not new. In the years 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections have been held simultaneously. But this trend was broken in 1968-69 when the assemblies of some states were dissolved ahead of time. However, some experts say that the population of the country has increased a lot, so it is not possible to conduct elections simultaneously. At the same time, this argument also comes out that along with the country's population, technology and resources have also developed. Therefore elections can be held simultaneously.
Costly elections:
When the first elections to the LokSabha took place in 1951-52, 53 parties contested the elections, around 1874 candidates participated and poll expenses were 11 crore.
In 2019 elections, there were 610 political parties, around 9,000 candidates and poll expenses of around 60,000 crore rupees (declared by ADR) are yet to be declared by the political parties.
the Law Commission of India estimated the cost of buying enough EVMs would be to the tune of Rs 4,500 crore “ in the long run, this cost will even out, say those pro-ONE NATION ONE ELECTION (On a different note the 2019 election spending is roughly $8.5 billion. The combined presidential and Congressional election in the US in 2016 was $6.5 billion.)
No confidence motion options: In this election system, the most worrying thing is what will happen if a government falls before five years. For this, a system of bringing a motion of confidence for another alternative government will have to be made soon after bringing a no-confidence motion against a government.
Many countries have this system: Sweden has been its role model. Here national and provincial as well as local bodies elections are held on a fixed date which takes place every four years on the second Sunday of September. This time the elections were held in Indonesia under this system. In South Africa, national and provincial elections are held simultaneously every five years, while municipal elections are held after two years. A similar system was also introduced in Indonesia in 2019. Following a number of provisions being deemed unconstitutional, Indonesia made amendments to its constitutions that resulted in legislative and presidential elections now taking place every five years.
Voter turnout Will increase - A single election exercise will be less cumbersome. Voter turnout will increase and it will be an added icing on the cake if results are not effected from any elections took place few months before. People will vote with great enthusiasm if elections were organized in such a manner. When we accept that we have to hold elections simultaneously once in 5 years, then this would not be a festival, but it would be a grand festival or a “Maha Utsav”. The entire administrative machinery of the Election Commission of India, the paramilitary forces, civilians, administrative officials, besides the political parties and candidates would have to be geared up for this mammoth exercise after a gap of 5 years. Besides the coherence in the electoral process, this would bring about governance, and the voters can judge the policies and programmes of the governments-both at the State level and at the Central level.
Help curb black money and corruption-Once the elections are held, it will help curb black money and corruption. Because black money is used openly during elections.
Help to maintain social unity and peace -Repeated elections give politicians and parties a chance to disrupt social unity and peace. An atmosphere of needless tension is created.
One time electoral duty- By holding elections together, there will be no need to repeatedly put government employees and security forces on electoral duty. With this, they will be able to complete their work properly.
Argument Against One Nation, One Election
Unconstitutional act: There is no mention of any definite provision on behalf of the Constitution for holding the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections together. On this basis, it is being argued that simultaneous elections are against the basic spirit.
Spending: Spending of money in a single election will not be stopped. According to the Law Commission, if the 2019 elections were conducted through this system, it would have required Rs 4500 crore to buy a new EVM. In order to conduct all elections simultaneously for the second time in 2024, it would cost Rs 1751.17 crore to replace the old EVM (15 years lifetime). 2017.93 crore in 2029 and in the fourth election i.e. 2034, this expenditure will be Rs 13981.58 crore.
What will happen if the government falls: The Constitution does not have a fixed tenure of the Lok Sabha or the state legislatures. Extending the term of the Lok Sabha or the legislatures is not constitutional. What if a government falls prematurely? 7 out of 16 Lok Sabha have been dissolved ahead of time.
Article 356.-The Central Government has the right to dissolve the State Governments under Article 356. Notwithstanding this right, elections cannot be held simultaneously.
National vs Regional Issues: Voters can vote on national issues even in assembly elections. Large national parties can benefit from this. Regional parties may suffer losses. Most of the countries where this system is in force have presidential governments.
Parties stand in 2018: In the Law Commission meeting in 2018, BJP and Congress kept away from it. Four parties (AIADMK, SAD, SP, TRS) supported. Nine political parties (Trinamool, AAP, DMK, TDP, CPI, CPM, JDS, Goa Forward Party and Forward Bloc) protested.
Sufficient Manpower demand: It would be difficult, but certainly not impossible for the Election Commission of India to hold this exercise once in 5 years. In the recent Lok Sabha elections of 2019, in terms of the number of manning officers, around 2,60,000 / -paramilitary forces were employed by the Government of India. Besides this, 10,00,000/- police officers were pressed into service all across States. There were also more than 10,00,000 / -polling booths across the country. Thus, if each polling station is being manned by around 4 people, along with 1 BLO (Booth Level Officer), making it a total of 5 people, we arrive at a figure of around 1 crore people involved in the process of conducting elections ( paramilitary forces, civilians, administrative officers, and others being engaged). So, if you are holding the elections for all the assemblies and the Lok Sabha at one go (once in 5 years), one can save and optimize costs.
Read: Is BJP's 'one nation one poll' agenda feasible for India?
