One Nation One Election : Effective or Just a Political Gimmick?

India is country of elections. Every 4 months country is engaged in some election happening in some part of the country. Apart from Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, we have panchayat election, corporation election and so on. Every election requires huge amount of funds and deployment of reserved force to guarantee the elections are conducted freely and fairly. Thus, One nation one election is seen as an option. Below is why India needs One Nation One Election can be helpful for country like India.

One nation one election

To prevent the nation from being in constant election mode, “One Nation, One Election” is essential.

It has not been even a month since the results of General Elections were announced, but the Electin Commission has to get ready to conduct elections in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana. If there is a single poll, then this frequent imposition of MCC (Model Code of Conduct) will not be necessary thereby not stalling the appointment of officers, adoption of policies, etc.

Save Tax Payers Money

The biggest advantage is that it will help the nation save at least 5500 crores for the exchequer. Now itself it is this much, in the future we will be able to save more considering the inflation in the long run. Also having one election will ease the burden on smaller parties which can ill afford poll expenditures frequently.

Free Law Makers from Election Mode

On top of it, citizens will get one big relief. Our politicians need not make themselves “busy” with polls frequently. It is not just a state’s politicians and the state EC which get ready for polls when it goes for polls. Even Politicians from neighbouring states too come and campaign along with National leaders.

Take the 2018 Karnataka Assembly Elections. It was an election where almost the entire union Cabinet was out campaigning along with even CMs of UP, MP, AP, Rajasthan and Gujarat!

Yogi Adityanath was criticized for being busy campaigning in Karnataka when UP was suffering from dust storms. Even assembly elections of states like that of UP, Bihar, MH etc too attract politicians from other states. If there is a single poll, all these “unnecessary” disturbances will not be necessary.

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However implementation is easier said than done!

At least 6 major amendments must be made to the constitution

  • Article 83 (duration of Houses of Parliament)
  • Article 85 (dissolution of Lok Sabha)
  • Article 172 (duration of state legislatures)
  • Article 174 (dissolution of state assemblies)
  • Article 356 (imposition of President’s rule)
  • Representation of Peoples Act (1951) (to include the conduct of simultaneous elections)

But it is not just the question of Amendments, there are many questions for which a lot of deliberation and debate is necessary.

Let’s take the example of Karnataka. In this stage, you won’t get a better example than Karnataka. The Government is in such a delicate position that it can collapse anytime. Let’s assume that it falls in the coming days, thereby being in power for hardly a year. (The government is precisely is in this situation !)

What next?

Either elections have to be held or for the next 4 years, the state must be under president’s rule. Putting the state under president’s rule for 4, 3, 2 or even 1 year is not a good thing to do. But at the same time, if at all midterm elections are held, the new government cannot be in power for a full 5 year term. I doubt regional parties will accept it.

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Let’s see another scenario.

What if the government collapses after 3 years? With 2 years left, both President’s rule and fresh elections will not be a wise idea.

So seeing all this,

The best thing to do according to me is to separate the executive and the legislature like in a Presidential Style Democracy.

Under the current system, any party can move a no-confidence motion and collapse the government if it has the requisite numbers citing that the executive/government has lost the confidence of the legislature. If the concept of a no-confidence motion is itself removed and the government is allowed to function irrespective of whether it has a majority or not after it’s formation, it would be a very good thing.

Such an arrangement has other advantages too. We won’t have Karnataka type unstable governments and the government can concentrate on people’s problems. Currently, HDK is more worried about his chair than people’s problems. So “One Nation, One Election” is possible. However, it requires a lot of consensus building and amendments to the constitution to the tune of even altering its basic features.

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Pic Courtesy: The Logical Indian

Skanda Venugopal