The recommendations made by the high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind on One Nation One Election are on predictable lines. The committee’s terms of reference assumed that simultaneous polls are in “national interest” and the committee members have already either openly expressed support for the idea or are seen to be close to the government and therefore broadly in agreement with the Bhartiya Janata Party’s pet projects. The committee had no Opposition member as the Congress simply refused to join arguing that it is imbalanced. The government therefore can’t be blamed for the Congress’ penchant for scoring self-goals even on such important matters. Yet, in the absence of a robust debate, the perception would be that the committee has merely tried to justify what the BJP has been trying to pursue since 1984. A reform of this magnitude certainly needed more engagement of all stakeholders.
There is no doubt, however, that the committee has done an exhaustive job and quite a few of the recommendation make ample sense. As the first step to holding simultaneous elections, the committee has recommended that the government take a “one-time transitory measure”, which would require the Union government to identify an “appointed date” immediately after a Lok Sabha election and all state assemblies that go to poll after the said date would have their terms expire with Parliament. Then, as the second step, municipality and panchayat elections should be held within 100 days of the Lok Sabha and state elections. Wisely enough, the committee has left the job of fixing a specific starting point to the government. To ensure that synchronicity is not disrupted due to the premature dissolution of the Parliament or a state assembly due to a no-confidence motion, a hung House or any other event, the committee has suggested that fresh elections should be conducted only for the remainder of the term, or the “unexpired term”, until the next cycle of simultaneous polls is due. These recommendations do take care of a lot of the underlying issues.
The idea of holding simultaneous elections certainly has merit. Developmental work is affected by the model code of conduct, and the bigger problem is that political parties are perpetually in campaign mode, which severely affects and influences decision-making. Even routine matters are often based on electoral considerations. Simultaneous elections will also save money—both for the exchequer and political parties, as documented by the committee. The concern, therefore, is not in the committee’s recommendations; it is in the method that the government takes in implementing them. There is a valid anxiety that in combined polls, a central narrative could overwhelm marginal aspirations and take it all, thus hurting the federal-essence of democracy. This may be too simplistic an assumption, but perceptions do matter.
Also Read The Internet Apocalypse: Could Cables Bring It All Down? A Quest to Preserve Bharatiya Civilizational Values: The Philosophy behind the Citizenship Amendment Act Bridging the career break gap among women: How far India needs to traverse? In Simple Terms: Generative AI For Software Engineering There is also merit in the observation that in a multi-tiered governance system such as the one in India, a Union of States, electoral democracy works by allowing people to choose their representatives for each tier based on their perception of who is best-suited to represent them. There are also stiff constitutional, legal, and logistic terrains to cover on way to simultaneous polls. For such a fundamental change in the democratic structure and process, consensus is not only desirable, it is the only option. The government would be well-advised not to rush and instead have adequate engagement with the Opposition’s concerns before implementing the process.
The recommendations made by the high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind on One Nation One Election are on predictable lines. The committee’s terms of reference assumed that simultaneous polls are in “national interest” and the committee members have already either openly expressed support for the idea or are seen to be close to the government and therefore broadly in agreement with the Bhartiya Janata Party’s pet projects. The committee had no Opposition member as the Congress simply refused to join arguing that it is imbalanced. The government therefore can’t be blamed for the Congress’ penchant for scoring self-goals even on such important matters. Yet, in the absence of a robust debate, the perception would be that the committee has merely tried to justify what the BJP has been trying to pursue since 1984. A reform of this magnitude certainly needed more engagement of all stakeholders.
There is no doubt, however, that the committee has done an exhaustive job and quite a few of the recommendation make ample sense. As the first step to holding simultaneous elections, the committee has recommended that the government take a “one-time transitory measure”, which would require the Union government to identify an “appointed date” immediately after a Lok Sabha election and all state assemblies that go to poll after the said date would have their terms expire with Parliament. Then, as the second step, municipality and panchayat elections should be held within 100 days of the Lok Sabha and state elections. Wisely enough, the committee has left the job of fixing a specific starting point to the government. To ensure that synchronicity is not disrupted due to the premature dissolution of the Parliament or a state assembly due to a no-confidence motion, a hung House or any other event, the committee has suggested that fresh elections should be conducted only for the remainder of the term, or the “unexpired term”, until the next cycle of simultaneous polls is due. These recommendations do take care of a lot of the underlying issues.
The idea of holding simultaneous elections certainly has merit. Developmental work is affected by the model code of conduct, and the bigger problem is that political parties are perpetually in campaign mode, which severely affects and influences decision-making. Even routine matters are often based on electoral considerations. Simultaneous elections will also save money—both for the exchequer and political parties, as documented by the committee. The concern, therefore, is not in the committee’s recommendations; it is in the method that the government takes in implementing them. There is a valid anxiety that in combined polls, a central narrative could overwhelm marginal aspirations and take it all, thus hurting the federal-essence of democracy. This may be too simplistic an assumption, but perceptions do matter.
There is also merit in the observation that in a multi-tiered governance system such as the one in India, a Union of States, electoral democracy works by allowing people to choose their representatives for each tier based on their perception of who is best-suited to represent them. There are also stiff constitutional, legal, and logistic terrains to cover on way to simultaneous polls. For such a fundamental change in the democratic structure and process, consensus is not only desirable, it is the only option. The government would be well-advised not to rush and instead have adequate engagement with the Opposition’s concerns before implementing the process.
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16.03.2024
The recommendations made by the high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind on One Nation One Election are on predictable lines. The committee’s terms of reference assumed that simultaneous polls are in “national interest” and the committee members have already either openly expressed support for the idea or are seen to be close to the government and therefore broadly in agreement with the Bhartiya Janata Party’s pet projects. The committee had no Opposition member as the Congress simply refused to join arguing that it is imbalanced. The government therefore can’t be blamed for the Congress’ penchant for scoring self-goals even on such important matters. Yet, in the absence of a robust debate, the perception would be that the committee has merely tried to justify what the BJP has been trying to pursue since 1984. A reform of this magnitude certainly needed more engagement of all stakeholders.
There is no doubt, however, that the committee has done an exhaustive job and quite a few of the recommendation make ample sense. As the first step to holding simultaneous elections, the committee has recommended that the government take a “one-time transitory measure”, which would require the Union government to identify an “appointed date” immediately after a Lok Sabha election and all state assemblies that go to poll after the said date would have their terms expire with Parliament. Then, as the second step, municipality and panchayat elections should be held within 100 days of the Lok Sabha and state elections. Wisely enough, the committee has left the job of fixing a specific starting point to the government. To ensure that synchronicity is not disrupted due to the premature dissolution of the Parliament or a state assembly due to a no-confidence motion, a hung House or any other event, the committee has suggested that fresh elections should be conducted only for the remainder of the term, or the “unexpired........
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