One Nation One Election. Is it Desirable?
- Looma Kushwaha
UPSC GENERAL STUDIES: PAPER II (Indian Constitution - Significant Provision; Salient Features of Representation of People's Act)
UPSC GENERAL STUDIES: PAPER II (Indian Constitution - Significant Provision; Salient Features of Representation of People's Act)
Table of Content
The Case
for Simultaneous Elections in India
Arguments
in support of holding Simultaneous Elections
Law
Commission proposal for Simultaneous Elections
Logistical
and Financial Challenges in holding Simultaneous Elections
Consequences
of Aligning Elections
Counter
Argument: Is this the best way of improving governance?
Conclusion
The first general election to the Lok
Sabha was held simultaneously with the elections of all State Assemblies in
1951-52.
This practice continued in three
subsequent general elections held in the years — 1957, 1962 and 1967.
However, due to the premature
dissolution of some Legislative Assemblies in 1968 and 1969, the cycle got
disrupted.
As a result of premature dissolutions
and extension of terms of both the Lok Sabha and various State Assemblies, the
last 48 years have seen separate elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies.
The Case for Simultaneous Elections in India
‘The permanent campaign’ was a phrase coined and
popularised by Sidney Blumenthal, adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton,
in his 1980 book that lamented the culture of election campaigns crowding
out time for policymaking. Prime Minister Narendra Modi agrees with
Mr. Blumenthal. He recently bemoaned the incessant demands of electioneering
for various State elections leaving little time for governance. He
called for reforming India’s electoral cycle to hold simultaneous elections
to State Legislatures and Parliament, ostensibly to break out of this
‘permanent campaign’ syndrome.
Arguments
in support of holding Simultaneous Elections
79th Report of the Department-related
Parliamentary Committee on the ‘Feasibility of Holding Simultaneous
Elections to the House of People (Lok Sabha) and State Legislative
Assemblies’ says that the holding of simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and
state assemblies would reduce:
- The massive expenditure that is currently incurred for the conduct of separate elections;
- The policy paralysis that results from the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct during election time;
- Impact on delivery of essential services;
- Burden on crucial manpower that is deployed during election time*;
- The disruption to normal public life associated with elections, such as increased traffic and noise pollution.
* For example, the 2014 Lok Sabha
elections, which were held along with State Assembly Elections in Odisha,
Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, was spread over nine phases and
1077 in situ companies and 1349 mobile companies of Central Armed Police Force
(CAPF) were deployed,” the report states.
Law
Commission proposal for Simultaneous Elections
Law Commission of India, which had
suggested that elections of legislative assemblies whose term ends six
months after the general elections to Lok Sabha can be clubbed together. However,
the results of such elections can be declared at the end of the assembly’s
tenure.
In fact the Representation of People
Act, 1951 permits the Election Commission to notify general elections six
months prior to the end of the terms of Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
Holding of elections in two phases: The Parliamentary Committee
recommended that elections could be held in two phases. It stated that
elections to some Legislative Assemblies could be held during the midterm of
Lok Sabha. Elections to the remaining legislative assemblies could be held with
the end of Lok Sabha’s term.
Logistical
and Financial Challenges in holding Simultaneous Elections
There are several logistical and
financial challenges that have to be overcome before India can hold state and
central elections together:
Constitutional Amendment: For starters, the
government will have to amend the Constitution to either curtail or extend the
term of some of the state Assemblies to enable the EC to draw up a common poll
schedule. (Articles 83, 85, 172, 174)
Gears and Equipment: Such an exercise will
require large-scale purchase of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter
Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines. According to the Commission, it
would need Rs 9,284.15 crore to procure the additional EVMs and VVPATs and the
machines will have to be replaced every 15 years which would again entail more
expenditure.
Manpower: The EC will also need
more central armed forces personnel for deployment at separate polling booths
meant for Lok Sabha and state assembly election
Consequences
of Aligning Elections
Centralization of Polity: Political incentives for
aligning elections is to increase the extent to which national politics
dominates state-level electoral contests, or in other words to centralise
political life. It would attempt to reverse the trend of the last several
decades in which state politics has been the pre-eminent arena of Indian
politics. Evidence from other countries suggests that simultaneous elections do
indeed have a nationalising effect on political competition. The trend of
choosing the same party at the state and the centre has gone from 68 per cent
in 1999 to 77 per cent in 2004 to 76 per cent in 2009 and 86 per cent in 2014.
International Scenario: Evidence from countries
like Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Germany, the US and Europe supports the idea
that elections that are held simultaneously produce greater alignment between
national and regional election outcome.
Counter
Argument: Is this the best way of improving governance?
When we turn to the governance
implications of streamlining elections, the evidence is even less clear. The
government’s argument essentially boils down to the notion that elections are a
costly distraction from governance. But the real challenges of governance in
India’s multi-level electoral context are more profound than that. These
include:
The Challenges of Accountability: This arises from voters’
difficulties in attributing policy responsibility to one level of government or
the other. If the voters can distinguish between the roles and responsibility
of the state and the centre, hold the respective governments accountable in
their working, then governance will automatically improve. For this what is
required is voter education and awareness programs.
Divergent policy preferences across
regions: Different states have different issues. One nation one election may not
give the scope for accommodation of different needs of the region.
Homogenization of Polity not
envisaged in the Constitution: Given the evidence that voters tend to vote for a
single party when asked to cast vote simultaneously for different elections,
there is a tendency that same party wins both the elections. In a federal,
multi-party democracy that is India this is not desirable. A multi-party
democracy was established with the vision that parties, with different
ideologies, governing different states will work as a laboratory for public
policy making and implementation. The best practices thus evolved could be
adopted in other areas. This diversity will be sacrificed at the altar of
homogenization that simultaneous elections will usher in.
Conclusion
Also states have different policy
priorities and capacities which shape how well they implement the initiatives
of the central government. Working upon capacity building of laggard states is
more important thus. These are the real challenges for thinking about
governance in India – not the frequency with which elections are held.
These
challenges require coalition building, information sharing, and political
skills to navigate.
Bibliography
Discussion
on Simultaneous Elections
05.07.16: EC
ready for simultaneous national, State polls
08.07.16: Can
hold Lok Sabha, all state polls at once: Election Commission tells Law Ministry
07.04.16: Constitutional
Experts Decry Modi’s Call to Hold Simultaneous Polls to Parliament, Assemblies
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