FOCUS
ONE NATION – TWO ELECTIONS
No sooner the Election 2019, brought home the unprecedented victory of BJP led combine to almost 2/3rd of Loksabha strength, BJP’s supreme leader and Prime Minister, Narendra Modi harped on BJP’s favourite theme “One Nation – One Election” (ON-OE) It has been dedusted and resurrected. It is favourite because, in 2014 itself BJP had published its intention about ON-OE in its manifesto.
“The BJP will seek, through consultation with other parties, to evolve a method of holding Assembly and Loksabha Elections simultaneously. Apart from reducing the election expenses for both political parties and Government, this will ensure certain stability for state government,” was its declared intention in 2014 manifesto. But during the tenure of 2014-19, it made only passing reference to the issue of One Nation-One Election. Since opposition or support to the idea was not very clear. Now that the NaMo led NDA has romped home in style, post Election 2019, Prime Minister Modi, in particular, wants to push this idea of One Nation-One Election.
Thus within less than one month of having been voted to power with unprecedented support base and number of seats having won, NaMo launched a broadside on the merits of One Nation-One Election.
With the ruling dispensation clear on its agenda to push One Nation-One Election, it is only fair that we try to understand the merits and demerits, so also the grounds of opposition from our political parties.
Adult franchise, as a measure of public perception for election of peoples’ representatives to the political offices is a norm all over the civilized democratic world. These elected political office holders, belonging to the majority section of these peoples’ representatives always formed government to administer the state-consisting of both central government and state governments. This separation of State and central is in vogue in many countries, including India. Since, we are talking about elections in India, will confine to India only.
Election Commission of India is a constitutional institution created under Article 324 of the constitution of India. It came into being on January 25, 1950. It was a single member body until 1993. However on 01-10-1993, the commission has become a 3 member body consisting of the Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners. The Election Commission of India conducts election to all elected bodies, from the President and Vice President of India to both houses of Parliament, State Legislative Assemblies and State Legislative Councils. There are five types of elections. Election to the office of President of India is through the electoral college consisting of elected members of Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabhas (Assemblies) and Vidhans Parishads (Councils). Elected President has 5 years term. Re-election takes place, if the incumbent resigns or dies while in office. Vice President of India is elected through secret ballet by members of an electoral college consisting of members of both house of parliament. Election to LokSabha (Lower House of Parliament) is held once every 5 years. At present there are 543 elected members to the Loksabha. To form a government, there should be minimum 272 members as one block, belonging to one party or coalition of parties. Election to Rajya Sabha (Upper House) is from 29 Indian states and 2 Union Territories. There are 238 members. Members are elected every 6 years. Rajya Sabha has strength of 250 members. 12 members are nominated by the President. Election to state Assemblies are held every 5 years in 31 states including 2 Union Territories. Elected members are called MLAs or Members of Legislative Assemblies. Then there are Bye Elections and Repolls, as situations demand. Bye Elections are due to vacancies due to death or disqualifications of existing members. Similarly Repoll is when election of a member is disputed and dispute upheld, or election countermanded.
Coming to One Nation One Election, it has to be mentioned that the idea is not new. It has been in vogue in the early part of free India. Simultaneous elections to Centre and States, or One Nation – One Election has been there since 1952, when first election was held. This was repeated after every five years in 1957, 1962 and 1967.
It was during the reign of Indira Gandhi, that this 5 years term of State assemblies was disrupted. It started to come to an end due to her influencing non congress elected governments or which were not of Congress party.
Thus the first, out of the norm, elections took place in India in 1968-69 and then it continued and became a new norm. This did not confine to only different state assemblies, it affected even the Loksabha elections. So round the year the election in one state or the other started to become fairly regular. As elections became more and more often in state after state, centre and political parties started spending money, time and other resources continuously. During the times of election governance and duties of the governments started to be on the back seat. Naturally productive days became less and less which started to reflect on the performance of the country affecting the GDP, cost overruns, delayed completion of projects, delayed decisions affecting the performance further.
The economy was slowly getting into vicious circle of non-performance. This had to stop for the overall good of the country. But somehow, not many were thinking on those lines.
From 1968/69 to 2018/19, it’s a period of 50 years. Five years ago BJP manifesto mentioned about having simultaneous elections to both centre and states. So suddenly after half a century issue of one election for the entire country became a talking point. Off and on debates took place but nothing serious developed, but there appeared a broad disagreement among most parties.
Come 2019, BJP won the Loksabha election in style, like never before. The renewed confidence with more than 300 seats of their own, BJP appeared to be on a stronger ground to talk about their favorite theme, One Nation One Election. More than the party, their undisputed strongman Prime Minister Narendra Modi started to push his agenda of One Nation One Election. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of simultaneous elections for Lok-sabha and state assemblies may be self serving but has strong logic” wrote Harihar Swarup, a freelance journalist.
Thus the subject of One Nation-One Electionbecame a topic of discussion in the public space. There is certainly lot of merits in the simultaneous election, while there are also serious concerns which are important, due to which the possibility of one nation one poll can be a non starter. It is true, opposition parties, since they do not want to be seen as agreeing with Narendra Modi or BJP, they have opposed and rejected the idea outright. But they are also not offering any alternative.
Merits of One Nation One Poll.
Biggest logic in favour of the simultaneous election is the savings in election expenditure. There will be a huge saving for the government, for political parties and individual candidates. There are some 4120 MLAs in 31 states & Union Territories.
The maximum limit of election related expenditure by a candidate is Rs: 28 lakhs. There may be many candidates standing for election, so its not 4120 MLAs, but the number of candidates per constituency multiplied by 4120. It can be staggering thousands of crores of rupees.
When election is announced Model Code of Conduct (MCC) comes into operation, therefore there cannot be new projects declared or started. So these frequent elections can come in the way of development programmes.
Due to the use of black money in election campaigning, frequent elections throughout the year can lead to the creation of parallel black money economy in the country. Simultaneous election can certainly reduce, if not, eliminate the growth of black economy.
Deployment of men and government machinery will be only once, unlike frequent elections. Hence governments both in state and centre, will be more functioning and therefore efficient, in the administration of governmental machinery due to reduction in vote bank spending and time saved due to frequent elections, having been stopped.
While merits are certainly commendable, the One Nation One Election has a huge problem of state issues pushed to the back seat. Issues in One Nation-One Election will be mostly national and therefore local issues may remain without being highlighted during electioneering.
Regional parties will not accept One Nation One Election, since regional issues will be relegated to the background.
Prior to 1970, there were no regional parties. These parties came to represent local and regional aspirations. Which were not talked about and hence remained on the back burner during general elections. It threw up new leadership, who not only wanted to serve their people, they also wanted to be power centers by their own right, and why not?
The possibility of coalition governments and also the possibility of collapse of such coalition governments makes One Nation One Election impossible proposal. There will always be re-elections, wherever needed.
India is a huge country not only geographically but also in terms of population. If One Nation One Election is implemented, it will need huge government machinery and financial resources to conduct such an exercise, which can be extremely prohibitive. Reportedly, only on increased number of EVMs, there can be an expenditure of Rs 4500/- Crores (4500,00,00.000/-) informs Election Commission.
Thus on the face of it, the idea of One Nation One Election appears grandiose under prevailing circumstances and is an extremely difficult proposition, both in terms of organization an cost factor.
But between the existing multiple elections and single or simultaneous elections, there can be other options and an open debate among all stake holders on the issue, is a need of the hour.
However political parties could think on the possibility of two elections, one Loksabha Elections for the whole country and separately assembly elections to all states simultaneously could be an option worth considering.
While it is possible that BJP may have advantage over other parties when it comes to One Nation One Election, there is a possibility that a compromise solution that reduces the ills of constant elections without giving the overwhelming advantage to the BJP, can be contemplated and acted upon.
How to go about this possible compromise of One Nation Two Election! To start with, a fixed term of 5 years for all elected governments should be enacted by a constitutional amendment.
Once the election is over and PM/CM elected, they will be there for full 5 years term. No defection will lead to the fall of the government. This will eliminate horse-trading by aayaa raams and gayaa raams. Two elections to centre and states can be on different dates.
To start with state elections should be held in the middle of Loksabha term, so that issues of states get separately highlighted. This will also give opportunity to voters to distinguish priorities, one concerning the nation and the other concerning states and respective localities. Of course, the cost can be more than One Nation One Election, but certainly far less than constant elections all through the 5 year period. Both state and centre will have long term strategy in place, which will mean every rupee spent will be more productive which otherwise will continue to be like the present scenario.
Hope, the ruling dispensation NDA III led by BJP does not force its way through the Loksabha, where it has majority and tries to maneuver in Rajyasabha-in the absence of members-to bring about the law for One Nation One Election and thereby causes chaos. Also hope opposition parties tries to deliberate to raise the topic of One Nation-Two Elections for the benefit of the nation as a whole so also help these opposition parties as well, in the process. This kind of a development will surely lead to a new dawn of responsible healthy politics and meaningful economics toward purposeful nation building which is truly the goal of all political ideologies.
No sooner the Election 2019, brought home the unprecedented victory of BJP led combine to almost 2/3rd of Loksabha strength, BJP’s supreme leader and Prime Minister, Narendra Modi harped on BJP’s favourite theme “One Nation – One Election” (ON-OE) It has been dedusted and resurrected. It is favourite because, in 2014 itself BJP had published its intention about ON-OE in its manifesto.
“The BJP will seek, through consultation with other parties, to evolve a method of holding Assembly and Loksabha Elections simultaneously. Apart from reducing the election expenses for both political parties and Government, this will ensure certain stability for state government,” was its declared intention in 2014 manifesto. But during the tenure of 2014-19, it made only passing reference to the issue of One Nation-One Election. Since opposition or support to the idea was not very clear. Now that the NaMo led NDA has romped home in style, post Election 2019, Prime Minister Modi, in particular, wants to push this idea of One Nation-One Election.
Thus within less than one month of having been voted to power with unprecedented support base and number of seats having won, NaMo launched a broadside on the merits of One Nation-One Election.
With the ruling dispensation clear on its agenda to push One Nation-One Election, it is only fair that we try to understand the merits and demerits, so also the grounds of opposition from our political parties.
Adult franchise, as a measure of public perception for election of peoples’ representatives to the political offices is a norm all over the civilized democratic world. These elected political office holders, belonging to the majority section of these peoples’ representatives always formed government to administer the state-consisting of both central government and state governments. This separation of State and central is in vogue in many countries, including India. Since, we are talking about elections in India, will confine to India only.
Election Commission of India is a constitutional institution created under Article 324 of the constitution of India. It came into being on January 25, 1950. It was a single member body until 1993. However on 01-10-1993, the commission has become a 3 member body consisting of the Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners. The Election Commission of India conducts election to all elected bodies, from the President and Vice President of India to both houses of Parliament, State Legislative Assemblies and State Legislative Councils. There are five types of elections. Election to the office of President of India is through the electoral college consisting of elected members of Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabhas (Assemblies) and Vidhans Parishads (Councils). Elected President has 5 years term. Re-election takes place, if the incumbent resigns or dies while in office. Vice President of India is elected through secret ballet by members of an electoral college consisting of members of both house of parliament. Election to LokSabha (Lower House of Parliament) is held once every 5 years. At present there are 543 elected members to the Loksabha. To form a government, there should be minimum 272 members as one block, belonging to one party or coalition of parties. Election to Rajya Sabha (Upper House) is from 29 Indian states and 2 Union Territories. There are 238 members. Members are elected every 6 years. Rajya Sabha has strength of 250 members. 12 members are nominated by the President. Election to state Assemblies are held every 5 years in 31 states including 2 Union Territories. Elected members are called MLAs or Members of Legislative Assemblies. Then there are Bye Elections and Repolls, as situations demand. Bye Elections are due to vacancies due to death or disqualifications of existing members. Similarly Repoll is when election of a member is disputed and dispute upheld, or election countermanded.
Coming to One Nation One Election, it has to be mentioned that the idea is not new. It has been in vogue in the early part of free India. Simultaneous elections to Centre and States, or One Nation – One Election has been there since 1952, when first election was held. This was repeated after every five years in 1957, 1962 and 1967.
It was during the reign of Indira Gandhi, that this 5 years term of State assemblies was disrupted. It started to come to an end due to her influencing non congress elected governments or which were not of Congress party.
Thus the first, out of the norm, elections took place in India in 1968-69 and then it continued and became a new norm. This did not confine to only different state assemblies, it affected even the Loksabha elections. So round the year the election in one state or the other started to become fairly regular. As elections became more and more often in state after state, centre and political parties started spending money, time and other resources continuously. During the times of election governance and duties of the governments started to be on the back seat. Naturally productive days became less and less which started to reflect on the performance of the country affecting the GDP, cost overruns, delayed completion of projects, delayed decisions affecting the performance further.
The economy was slowly getting into vicious circle of non-performance. This had to stop for the overall good of the country. But somehow, not many were thinking on those lines.
From 1968/69 to 2018/19, it’s a period of 50 years. Five years ago BJP manifesto mentioned about having simultaneous elections to both centre and states. So suddenly after half a century issue of one election for the entire country became a talking point. Off and on debates took place but nothing serious developed, but there appeared a broad disagreement among most parties.
Come 2019, BJP won the Loksabha election in style, like never before. The renewed confidence with more than 300 seats of their own, BJP appeared to be on a stronger ground to talk about their favorite theme, One Nation One Election. More than the party, their undisputed strongman Prime Minister Narendra Modi started to push his agenda of One Nation One Election. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of simultaneous elections for Lok-sabha and state assemblies may be self serving but has strong logic” wrote Harihar Swarup, a freelance journalist.
Thus the subject of One Nation-One Electionbecame a topic of discussion in the public space. There is certainly lot of merits in the simultaneous election, while there are also serious concerns which are important, due to which the possibility of one nation one poll can be a non starter. It is true, opposition parties, since they do not want to be seen as agreeing with Narendra Modi or BJP, they have opposed and rejected the idea outright. But they are also not offering any alternative.
Merits of One Nation One Poll.
Biggest logic in favour of the simultaneous election is the savings in election expenditure. There will be a huge saving for the government, for political parties and individual candidates. There are some 4120 MLAs in 31 states & Union Territories.
The maximum limit of election related expenditure by a candidate is Rs: 28 lakhs. There may be many candidates standing for election, so its not 4120 MLAs, but the number of candidates per constituency multiplied by 4120. It can be staggering thousands of crores of rupees.
When election is announced Model Code of Conduct (MCC) comes into operation, therefore there cannot be new projects declared or started. So these frequent elections can come in the way of development programmes.
Due to the use of black money in election campaigning, frequent elections throughout the year can lead to the creation of parallel black money economy in the country. Simultaneous election can certainly reduce, if not, eliminate the growth of black economy.
Deployment of men and government machinery will be only once, unlike frequent elections. Hence governments both in state and centre, will be more functioning and therefore efficient, in the administration of governmental machinery due to reduction in vote bank spending and time saved due to frequent elections, having been stopped.
While merits are certainly commendable, the One Nation One Election has a huge problem of state issues pushed to the back seat. Issues in One Nation-One Election will be mostly national and therefore local issues may remain without being highlighted during electioneering.
Regional parties will not accept One Nation One Election, since regional issues will be relegated to the background.
Prior to 1970, there were no regional parties. These parties came to represent local and regional aspirations. Which were not talked about and hence remained on the back burner during general elections. It threw up new leadership, who not only wanted to serve their people, they also wanted to be power centers by their own right, and why not?
The possibility of coalition governments and also the possibility of collapse of such coalition governments makes One Nation One Election impossible proposal. There will always be re-elections, wherever needed.
India is a huge country not only geographically but also in terms of population. If One Nation One Election is implemented, it will need huge government machinery and financial resources to conduct such an exercise, which can be extremely prohibitive. Reportedly, only on increased number of EVMs, there can be an expenditure of Rs 4500/- Crores (4500,00,00.000/-) informs Election Commission.
Thus on the face of it, the idea of One Nation One Election appears grandiose under prevailing circumstances and is an extremely difficult proposition, both in terms of organization an cost factor.
But between the existing multiple elections and single or simultaneous elections, there can be other options and an open debate among all stake holders on the issue, is a need of the hour.
However political parties could think on the possibility of two elections, one Loksabha Elections for the whole country and separately assembly elections to all states simultaneously could be an option worth considering.
While it is possible that BJP may have advantage over other parties when it comes to One Nation One Election, there is a possibility that a compromise solution that reduces the ills of constant elections without giving the overwhelming advantage to the BJP, can be contemplated and acted upon.
How to go about this possible compromise of One Nation Two Election! To start with, a fixed term of 5 years for all elected governments should be enacted by a constitutional amendment.
Once the election is over and PM/CM elected, they will be there for full 5 years term. No defection will lead to the fall of the government. This will eliminate horse-trading by aayaa raams and gayaa raams. Two elections to centre and states can be on different dates.
To start with state elections should be held in the middle of Loksabha term, so that issues of states get separately highlighted. This will also give opportunity to voters to distinguish priorities, one concerning the nation and the other concerning states and respective localities. Of course, the cost can be more than One Nation One Election, but certainly far less than constant elections all through the 5 year period. Both state and centre will have long term strategy in place, which will mean every rupee spent will be more productive which otherwise will continue to be like the present scenario.
Hope, the ruling dispensation NDA III led by BJP does not force its way through the Loksabha, where it has majority and tries to maneuver in Rajyasabha-in the absence of members-to bring about the law for One Nation One Election and thereby causes chaos. Also hope opposition parties tries to deliberate to raise the topic of One Nation-Two Elections for the benefit of the nation as a whole so also help these opposition parties as well, in the process. This kind of a development will surely lead to a new dawn of responsible healthy politics and meaningful economics toward purposeful nation building which is truly the goal of all political ideologies.
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