SIMULTANEOUS ELECTIONS - POLITY

News: Delhi High Court declines to entertain plea on simultaneous Centre, State elections

 

What's in the news?

       The Delhi High Court declined to entertain a plea seeking to ascertain the feasibility of conducting elections for the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies simultaneously in 2024.

       The court said, "We are not framers of law. It is the domain of the Election Commission to decide when elections will take place. We know our limitations. We are not the lawmakers; we ensure compliance of law. The Election Commission of India (ECI) will look into your representation".

 

Key takeaways:

       At present, each state in India holds its own separate assembly elections.

       The only election that takes place simultaneously across the Nation is the parliamentary polls.

       The One Nation One Election statute was initiated by the Union Government and advocates for a single election for both the Legislative Assembly and the Parliament.

       With the establishment of One Nation One Election, voters will be required to cast two votes at once - one for the state assembly and the other for the parliament.

 

What are Simultaneous Elections?

       Simultaneous elections refer to holding elections to Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies, Panchayats and Urban local bodies simultaneously, once in five year

 

Need for Simultaneous Elections:

Need for simultaneous elections arises because of the problems associated with frequent elections:

       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.

       Destabilizes the duly elected governments and imposed a heavy burden on the exchequer.

       Puts pressure on political parties, especially smaller ones, as elections are becoming increasingly expensive.

       Increases the cost of management to the election commission.

 

Merits of Simultaneous Elections:

1. Governance and consistency

       The ruling parties will be able to focus on legislation and governance rather than having to be in campaign mode forever.

2. Reduced Expenditure of Money and Administration: 

       The entire State and District level administrative and security machinery will be busy with the conduct of elections twice in a period of five years as per the current practice.

       Expenditure can be reduced by conducting simultaneous elections.

3. Continuity in policies and programmes.

4. Efficiency of Governance: 

       Simultaneous elections can bring the much-needed operational efficiency in this exercise.

       Populist measures by governments will reduce.

5. Curbs Corruption:

       Simultaneous elections can also be a means to curb corruption and build a more conducive socio-economic ecosystem.

       The impact of black money on the voters will be reduced as all elections are held at a time.

6. Impact on social fabric:

       Frequent elections perpetuate caste, religion, and communal issues across the country as elections are polarizing events that have accentuated casteism, communalism, and corruption.

 

Legal complications in bringing out One Nation, One Elections:

For simultaneous elections to be implemented, Changes to be made in Constitution and Legislations such as

Constitutional Amendments:

       Article 83 - which deals with the duration of Houses of Parliament need an amendment

       Article 85 - on dissolution of Lok Sabha by the president.

       Article 172 - relating to the duration of state legislatures.

       Article 174 - relating to dissolution of state assemblies.

       Article 356 - on President’s Rule.

 

Legal amendments:

The Representation of People Act, 1951 Act would have to be amended to build in provisions for stability of tenure for both parliament and assemblies. This should include the following crucial elements:

       Restructuring the powers and functions of the ECI to facilitate procedures required for simultaneous elections.

       A definition of simultaneous election can be added to section 2 of the 1951 act.

 

Complications:

Several practical difficulties are as follows.

1. Confused Voters:

       Not all voters are highly educated to know who to vote for - assembly or parliament elections.

2. Create gap between voters and their representatives:

       Frequent elections bring the politicians back to the voters, create jobs {though temporary} and prevent the mixing of local and national issues in the minds of the voters.

3. Logistics issues:

       The issue of logistics and requirement of security personnel, election and administrative officials needs to be considered.

       There is a dearth of enough security and administrative officials to conduct simultaneous free and fair elections throughout the country in one go.

4. Against multi-party democracy:

       India is a multi-party democracy where elections are held for State Assemblies and the Lok Sabha separately.

       The voters are better placed to express their voting choices keeping in mind the two different governments which they would be electing by exercising their franchise.

       This distinction gets blurred somewhat when voters are made to vote for electing two types of government at the same time, at the same polling booth, and on the same day.

5. Anti-federal:

       Assembly elections are fought on local issues and, in the true spirit of federalism, parties and leaders are judged in the context of their work done in the state.

       Clubbing them with the general election could lead to a situation where the national narrative submerges the regional story.

       This could mean a regress for the federal character of the polity, which is best avoided.

6. Consensus among political parties:

       The biggest challenge to simultaneous polls lies in getting the party’s political consensus needed to bring an amendment in the law.

       Achieving an all party consensus is not easy.

 

Recommendations of the standing committee:

       The Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, in its report on ‘Feasibility of Holding Simultaneous Elections to the House of People (Lok Sabha) and State Legislative Assemblies’ are as follows.

 

1. Conditions for holding early elections:

       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.

2. No-confidence motion:

       The Commission noted that a no-confidence motion, if passed, may curtail the term of Lok Sabha/ state assembly. 

       It recommended replacing the ‘no-confidence motion’ with a ‘constructive vote of no-confidence’, through appropriate amendments.  

3. Hung House/ Assembly:

       If no party secures a majority to form the government, it may result in a hung House/ Assembly. 

       In order to prevent this, the Commission recommended that the President/ Governor should give an opportunity to the largest party along with their pre or post-poll alliance to form the government. 

       If the government can still not be formed, an all-party meeting may be called to resolve the stalemate. 

       If this fails, mid-term elections may be held. The Commission recommended that appropriate amendments be made to provide that any new Lok Sabha/Assembly formed after mid-term elections, will be constituted only for the remainder of the previous term, and not the entire five years.

 4. Amendment to anti-defection laws:

       The Commission recommended that appropriate amendments be made to anti-defection laws to ensure that all disqualification issues (arising from defection) are decided by the presiding officer within six months.

 

Countries with simultaneous elections are held:

  1. In South Africa, elections to national and provincial legislatures are held simultaneously for five years and after two years municipal elections are held.
  2. Similarly in Sweden, simultaneous elections to national legislature (Riksdag), provincial legislature/county council and local bodies/municipal Assemblies are held on a fixed date.