Everyone knows that people are getting tired and disillusioned with the frequent elections. People are going on holidays on the day of voting and despite all the efforts of the Election Commission, the voting percentage is not increasing beyond a limit. If all the elections are held together, people’s interest will increase and they will come out to vote in large numbers., Every year when elections are held, there is huge expenditure. This will be stopped.
The central government has taken a meaningful initiative to hold simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and all the state assemblies of the country. In the cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the recommendations made by the committee headed by former President Shri Ramnath Kovind have been accepted. After this, the legislative process will begin. The government will prepare a bill after consultation with all the concerned parties, which will be presented in the Parliament. After that, if necessary, the bill will be sent to the Standing Committee or the Joint Parliamentary Committee so that a consensus can be built. Keep in mind that to implement the principle of ‘one country, one election’, it is very important to build a consensus with all the political parties and other concerned parties. Giving information about the acceptance of the recommendations of the Kovind Committee in the cabinet meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Shri Ashwini Vaishnav said that the government will move forward by building a consensus on this.
Needless to say, the aggressive nature of the opposition’s opposition on this principle and the manner in which it is opposing it will make it difficult to build a consensus. But the question is, do the arguments on the basis of which the opposition is calling it impractical or the arguments on the basis of which it is being called against the federal system created by the Indian Constitution have any solid basis or is the opposition opposing it just for the sake of opposition? It is unfortunate that in the last 10 years the attitude of the opposition has become completely negative. It opposes every good and meaningful initiative. Being in the opposition does not mean that every step of the government should be opposed. The opposition should play a constructive role and support the decisions being taken in the national interest. The opposition of the country has forgotten this role and this is the reason why the citizens of the country are rejecting it again and again.
However, the biggest objection of the opposition and some independent thinkers is that this will affect the system of federalism. Some ‘scholars’ are even saying that the federal system will end. Those who say this should definitely tell that till the first four elections after independence, elections of all the assemblies of the country were being held along with the Lok Sabha, so did federalism end? After independence, during the time of the country’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, simultaneous elections were held across the country in 1952, 1957, 1962 and 1967 and the reality is that these elections only strengthened democracy in the country. So when during the Nehru government, simultaneous elections were being held across the country, democracy and federalism were being strengthened, then how will democracy and federalism be weakened by holding all the elections simultaneously during the Modi government?
Another question related to this is how the cycle of simultaneous elections was broken? The Congress leadership should answer this question. Actually, this cycle was broken due to the arbitrariness and anti-constitutional acts of the then Congress government. Actually, in 1967, for the first time, anti-Congress governments were formed in many states of the country. Later, due to political reasons, these governments were dissolved, which led to mid-term elections and the cycle of simultaneous elections was broken. Then Indira Gandhi decided to hold early elections in 1971. If an attempt is being made to restore the cycle that was broken due to the arbitrariness of the Congress government at that time, then the Congress and other opposition parties should not have any problem with this. The challenge to the principle of federalism is also meaningless because even now, elections of many states are held along with the Lok Sabha. This year, elections were held in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh along with the Lok Sabha. How did the principle of federalism get affected in these states!
The second criticism is of practicality. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge dismissed it as impractical. But this is also a very superficial criticism. When the government and the Election Commission are ready to make it practical and are ready to develop the necessary infrastructure for it, then the question of practicality should not arise. Roughly eight thousand crore rupees are required for this, from which additional electronic voting machines, control units and VVPAT machines will be purchased. Considering the expenditure on elections held every year, this one-time investment is very nominal. Similarly, there should not be any problem in the deployment of employees and security forces for simultaneous elections. As far as the voter list is concerned, the Election Commission has made it clear that it will prepare a common voter list for Lok Sabha, Assembly and local body elections. This will end all problems. But for this it is necessary that its law is passed as soon as possible so that the Election Commission gets enough time for preparations.
Apart from this, another criticism from the opposition is that what will happen if the assembly is dissolved midway? Will the election be held for the remaining time or for the entire term and if it is for the entire term, will this not break the cycle of simultaneous elections? Similarly, it is also being said that if 2029 is to be fixed as the ‘fixed date’, then what will happen to the assemblies whose elections will be held before that? Will their term be completed or will they be dissolved midway? The answer to some of these questions lies in the recommendations of the Kovind Committee itself. It has been said that once 2029 is fixed as the ‘fixed date’, as soon as its notification is issued, it will be decided that the term of all the assembly elections to be held after that will be till 2029. In this, it is possible that the elections to be held in the states in 2028 may be postponed and the term of the elections before that may be limited. A provision will be made about this in the bill to be presented by the government. If the opposition parties agree, then there will be no problem.
As far as mid-term elections are concerned in case of dissolution of the assembly or fall of the government, this is a very imaginary possibility because the time of Congress is over when it used to arbitrarily topple governments in states, impose President’s rule and hold mid-term elections. Can anyone tell how many states have faced mid-term elections in the first 24 years of the new century or in how many states has the Centre imposed President’s rule? Shri Narendra Modi’s government has not imposed President’s rule in any state except Jammu and Kashmir and there has not been a need for mid-term elections in any state. This shows the commitment of the Modi government to federalism. Anyway, by making anti-defection laws stricter, there has been stability in governments and due to this the possibility of mid-term elections has become negligible. If there is a consensus between the government and the opposition, then a provision should be made in the bill to be brought for ‘one country, one election’ that instead of bringing a no-confidence motion against any government, a new confidence motion should be brought. That is, if there is no confidence among MLAs and MPs in any government, then they should present a confidence motion to form a new government.
If we compare the advantages of the principle of conducting simultaneous elections in the entire country with the disadvantages that are being pointed out, then the scales will seem to tilt towards the advantages.
That is why Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, after approving the recommendations of the Kovind Committee for ‘One Country, One Election’, had said that this will ‘make India’s democracy vibrant and inclusive’. This will indeed make democracy vibrant and inclusive. Everyone knows that people are getting tired and disillusioned with the frequent elections. People are going on holidays on the day of voting and despite all the efforts of the Election Commission, the voting percentage is not increasing beyond a limit. If all the elections are held together, people’s interest will increase and they will come out to vote in large numbers.
Secondly, every year elections are held, so there is a lot of expenditure. This will be stopped. Thirdly, because of elections, code of conduct is imposed somewhere or the other all the time, which affects major policy decisions and slows down development activities. Fourthly, all parties and leaders think about elections throughout the year and remain engaged in them. If all elections are held together, there will be a stir for three months and after that constructive work will continue for five years. (The author is a representative of Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang (Gole). Views are personal.)