We all must have taken
exams in our educational lives. Generally, we take them in a single stretch. What
if exams are conducted with long intervals? I mean, if one subject exam is
conducted on one day and the next subject exam is conducted after one month, can we write them effectively? Moreover, try to look at this from the
management side as well. Are they able to conduct exams efficiently? No, right.
So, it means anything that has to be conducted in a single stretch should be
conducted in a single stretch to achieve efficiency and effectiveness. Similarly, our elections have to be conducted in a single stretch to
realize their objective. Since the election is one of the major elements of
democracy, it should serve its purpose of involving as many people as possible
by conducting simultaneous elections.
What are simultaneous elections?
What does a simultaneous
election mean? Is it conducting elections to the House of the People, all state
legislative assemblies, and all local bodies in one day? Here is the answer:
Simultaneous elections mean general elections held for constituting the house of
the people, all state legislative elections, and local bodies together at the
same time. Simultaneous elections are also referred to as One Nation One
Election (ONOE). Simultaneous elections would not mean that voting across the
country would take place on a single day. In a country as large as India, it is
not possible to have that. Pragmatism requires elections to be held in phases.
Elections to the local governments will be held within 100 days of conducting
elections to the House of the People and state legislative assemblies.
Constitution of the committee
On 2nd September
2023, a High-Level Committee, which was headed by former President of India
Shri Ram Nath Kovind, was set up by the government of India to examine and make
recommendations for holding simultaneous elections to the House of the People (Lok Sabha), state legislative assemblies, municipalities, and panchayats.
Before this High-Level Committee, several expert bodies like law commission of
India (170th Report of 1999, 225th Report of
2015, Draft Report 2018), the National Commission to Review the working of the
Constitution, 2002, the parliamentary standing committee Report in 2015 and
NITI Aayog in its working paper in 2017 advocated holding simultaneous
elections.
Scheme for implementing
simultaneous elections
Elections to the House of
the People, State Legislative Assemblies, and local governments will be
synchronized by adopting appropriate constitutional changes, and this will be
done in two steps. In the first step, simultaneous elections to the House of
the People and state legislative assemblies will be held. In the second step,
elections to the panchayats and municipalities will be held. For this to happen, the
constitution will be amended to introduce the concepts of a “full term” and an
“unexpired period” (where the house of the assembly is dissolved sooner than
the expiry of its “full term”). If a house or assembly is dissolved sooner than
its “full term”, the election that is going to be conducted is considered a
“mid-term” election. An election that will be conducted after the expiry of the “full term” is considered a “General election”.
Moreover, for the
synchronization of all these elections, a one-time transitory measure is
necessary. After the general election, when the house of the people is
constituted, the president will, by notification issued on the same date as the
date of the first meeting of the house, bring into force the provisions for
transition, and this date will be called the “appointed date”. Once the
transitory measures come into play, the tenure of all the state legislative
assemblies constituted in any election after the “appointed date” will come to
an end on the expiry of the full term of the House of the People, irrespective
of when an assembly is constituted. This helps in bringing synchronization.
Constitutional and legal
framework
To conduct
simultaneous elections, some provisions of the constitution have to be altered,
and some new provisions have to be introduced into the constitution. There are
over 15 amendments to the Constitution of India. Some important amendments and insertions include:
· Article
83 (will be amended) – duration of the houses of parliament.
· Article
172 (will be amended) – duration of state legislatures.
· Article
82 A (will
be inserted) – will establish the process for simultaneous elections.
NOTE –
Changes will not need ratification by the states.
· Article
324 A (will be inserted) – to ensure elections to the local
governments will be held simultaneously with the House of the People and state
legislative assemblies.
NOTE –
These changes need ratification by the states.
· Article
325 (will be amended) – this facilitates the Election Commission of India to prepare a single electoral roll and a single elector’s
photo identity card.
CHALLENGES
Challenges regarding
simultaneous elections can be listed as below:
1. Unconstitutional
and against the doctrine of basic structure.
2. Against
democratic principles.
3. Undermines
federalism.
4. Inability
to deal with a hung parliament/assembly.
The constitutional
framework provides enough safeguards to foster a resilient and vibrant
democracy. As we navigate the constitutional landscape, it becomes amply clear
that the holding of simultaneous elections in no way compromises the federal
structure and democratic values.
The Rationale of Simultaneous Elections
The following will give us an overall understanding of the simultaneous election's positive side.
1. Promotes
consistency and stability in governance.
2. Prevention
of policy paralysis due to sequential imposition of the model code of conduct.
3. Mitigating
the diversion of government machinery and resources of public institutions.
4. Regional
parties continued their relevance.
5. Enhancement
of voter turnout.
6. Enhanced
opportunities for political workers in elections.
7. Focus
on governance.
8. Reduced
financial burden.
Conclusion
Simultaneous elections
enhance transparency, inclusivity, ease, and confidence of the voters, and they
also spur the development process and social cohesion, deepen the foundations
of our democratic rubric, and realize the aspirations of India, that is Bharat.
