The Idea of Simultaneous Elections
Context
Recently, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal to hold simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. The proposal was recommended by a committee led by former President Ram Nath Kovind. This proposal has created a widespread debate about its potential impact on India’s federal structure and governance.
Relevance:
GS-02 (Indian Polity)
Dimensions of the Article:
- History of elections in India
- The Idea of Simultaneous Elections
- Why is it Anti-Federal?
- Concerns
- Way forward
History of elections in India:
- The first general election which was held in 1951 was conducted simultaneously for Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies of the States which continued for the next three cycles in the year 1957, 1962 and 1967.
- The cycle was disrupted because of premature dissolution of some Legislative Assemblies in 1968 and 1969.
- The last simultaneous elections was held in 1967.
- Currently, we have two rounds of Assembly general elections every year.
The Idea of Simultaneous Elections
- Simultaneous elections is about holding Lok Sabha (national parliament) and State Assembly elections together.
- It also envisions to conduct municipal and panchayat elections within 100 days of the general elections.
- The government argues that this approach will:
- Would reduce the financial burden on the government.
- Improve governance – because without constant elections, political leaders would focus more on governance rather than being in continuous campaign mode.
Why is it Anti-Federal?
- India functions as a federal structure where power is shared between the Centre and the States. Government at various levels (national, state, and local) – play unique roles and have different responsibilites.
- People elect their representatives at these levels separately.
- The idea of simultaneous elections is seen as anti-federal for the following reasons:
- Reduction in Voter Choice: When elections are held together along with Lok Sabha elections, it may influence voters to focus more on national issues and candidates, diminishing the importance of state-specific or local issues which reduces the diversity of voter choices for regional needs.
- Weakening State Autonomy: To bring the proposal into life, it is mandatory to align the State Assemblies cycle with the national election cycle. Hence, it might lead to the dissolution of State Assemblies before the completion of their term. And the new government so formed after elections, would again not serve a full five-year term but would align its tenure with the national election cycle which derails the autonomy of states to govern themselves.
- Undermining Importance of Local Governance: Having simultaneous elections, the voter will lack to see the regional needs and for a voter-national, state, and local issues gets combined and the line that differs these will get blurred. This might reduce the significance of municipal and panchayat elections, undermining local governance.
Concerns
- No Data to Support Cost Cutting: For a large democratic country like India holding all elections together could make this process even longer and more expensive. Moreover, there isn’t any empirical evidence on the simultaneous elections being cost-effective.
- Governance Impact: It is argued that the reason stating that the need for simultaneous elections is to reduce the constant campaign mode of politicians is in itself due to the centralizing tendencies in political parties and not because of the election system.
- Shortened Tenures for State Governments: Implementing this system would require cutting short the tenure of existing State Assemblies which could undermine democratic processes and cause instability in State governments.
Way forward:
- Having simultaneous elections is not completely bad. However, the advantage of holding separate elections for each level of government ensures that local, state, and national issues receive the attention they deserve. It also allows voters to choose representatives based on specific regional or local needs.
- The Union government should also ensure that any electoral reform respects India’s federal structure.
