A clear roadmap needed for 'one nation, one election'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitching in for one nation one election (ONOE) on Thursday has once again raised a debate in the political circles. He has given a clear indication that the Centre is determined to move ahead on this front. It is clear that government would amend the Constitution in the days to come and may be by end of 2022, it would go in for polls. Are we ready for such a dramatic shift?

Modi's argument was that every few months, there are elections happening in some or the other states. It hampers the developmental work. ONOE would speed up development and would reduce the burden on the exchequer as it would help in reducing the expenditure to conduct the polls. He felt that a common voter list can be used for holding simultaneous elections at every level—Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabhas or local panchayat level.

"Why're we wasting time and money on these lists? Now, everyone above the age of 18 is eligible to vote. Earlier there were a few changes but now everything is clear. The time for complete digitisation is here. The common man must have data for the functioning of every House and every House in the country should also have such data," he said.

There is certainly justification to hold simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly since the cost to the Government of India for conducting Lok Sabha elections has seen a significant jump in the recent years. According to NITI Aayog, compared to the cost incurred for conducting 2009 Lok Sabha elections at about Rs. 1115 crores, the same for the year 2014 more than tripled to about Rs. 3870 crores.

As elections happen frequently in some States or the other, political parties particularly worry about need to keep inflow of funds and contributions continued. This whole cycle is consequently blamed as one of the key drivers for corruption and black-money in the country. Hence, from the perspective of candidates and political parties, simultaneous elections could open possibilities to address the above systemic problems that impact the overall fabric of Indian economy and polity adversely.

The concept of ONOE is not new to India. Post adoption of the Constitution, the elections to Lok Sabha and all State Legislative Assemblies were held simultaneously between 1951 till 1967 when the cycle of synchronised elections got disrupted. The first general elections to Lok Sabha and all State Legislative Assemblies were held together in 1951-52. That practice continued over 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 for the first time. This is one issue the NDA government needs to address before introducing ONOE.

The proposal to revert to this idea was initially introduced in 1983 by the Election Commission. Even though it was mentioned in the Law Commission Report in 1999, the pace started picking up after its mention in the BJP manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

The idea of simultaneous elections has its advantages and disadvantages. On the face of it, the idea is appealing. Particularly since, at present, the election codes of the Election Commission of India (ECI) curtail some powers of an incumbent government during elections, resulting in delays in implementing welfare schemes which are already underway.

It can also avoid the kind of clash between the government and State Election Commission as we have been witnessing in some states like Andhra Pradesh. First the SEC objected to the government's proposal to hold elections in view of corona pandemic and now the government is objecting to the suggestion of the SEC citing the same reason though the country is in unlockdown mode and polls are being held in other States.

The arguments against simultaneous elections include that it amounts to diluting federal system and facilitates one-person domination without the country opting for such a system formally. This also means a dilution of the federal system in favour of centralisation. This leads to homogenisation of the country, instead of bringing equity, sustaining plurality, and promoting local and regional leadership.

ONOE can be welcomed provided it can really check the growth of a parallel economy and curb usage of black money. More specifically, the reasons given for simultaneous polls are that frequent polls hurt the economy and slows down development. Yes, elections do cost huge money. But along with that what is most important is that all parties should demonstrate an exemplary attitude and should not succumb to vote-getting compulsions.

If the Centre does not go in for major electoral reforms and ensure that people with criminal records are not kept out of the electoral arena and candidates and political parties resort to inducements in a competitive way, barring some saving on the money that is spent in conducting polls, there would not be much of change and the concept of speedy development would remain confined to paper.

It is not just enough to have good ideas, there should be clear road map to ensure that revolutionary changes are brought in so that real development can be seen by the next generations. Holding simultaneous polls alone cannot be a panacea for the ills that we are witnessing in the elections across the country.

This is what should worry the nation more. Also, it is important to remember that what is spent on polls in the country in all is much less than what the union government and the State governments spend on unproductive publicity and advertising yearly with all kinds of claims and promises. The government has been going in for regulatory mechanism on media and on other sectors. But there is no effective regulatory mechanism which can bring transparency in electoral system. They should also be brought under the framework of Right to Information Act.

Another issue that needs to be examined is can bringing down duration of campaign reduce expenditure? Practical experience shows that it does not happen so. The candidate would be spending the same amount in 15 days adopting innovative methods. It is also a known fact that all parties (without exception) give note for vote.

There have been instances where voters in one village had refused to go to polling station because they got less than the neighbouring village. Can the ONOE stop this practice? What is important is the new system should bring in more effective governance and it should not undermine the importance of regional parties. It should stop at ONOE and not lead to one nation one party if the federal structure of India has to be protected.