SIMULTANEOUS ELECTIONS
Simultaneous elections, also known as synchronous elections
or concurrent elections, refer to the practice of holding various
elections at the same time. It refers to holding elections to Lok
Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies simultaneously, once
every five years.
At present, elections to Lok Sabha and all State Legislative
Assemblies are going to be held simultaneously in Odisha
2024.
Advantages of simultaneous elections
The cost of an election has two components – one, expenditure
incurred by the Election Commission, and two, expenditure
incurred by the political parties. A large number of government
employees and public buildings are diverted from their regular
responsibilities for election duties. Supporters of the
simultaneous elections argue that it will reduce election
expenditure in terms of finance and reduce the diversion of
human resources for election duties.
Model Code of Conduct (MCC) comes into operation during
election season. MCC is seen as an obstacle to the government
service delivery mechanism. Simultaneous elections may
reduce such disruption.
During elections, political convenience takes precedence over
public interest. To lure voters, political parties concede to
popular demands without any consideration of public interest.
Simultaneous elections reduce such opportunities for political
parties.
Simultaneous election promotes the national perspective over
the regional perspective. This is important for the unity of the
country.
Since it promotes a national perspective, simultaneous
elections strengthen national parties. This reduces the
mushrooming growth of political parties based on narrow vote
bank politics.
Simultaneous elections bring States on par with the Center. If
the elections are to be held simultaneously once in five years,
the elected state governments cannot be dismissed easily. This
reduces the anomalies created by Article 356 (President’s Rule)
of the Indian constitution and hence, it strengthens federalism.
The simultaneous election once in five years provides stability
to the governments. It allows the government to make difficult
and harsh decisions in the larger public interest.
Arguments against simultaneous elections
Simultaneous elections may reduce the expenditure incurred
by the Election Commission. However, there is no guarantee
that the expenditure of the political parties will be reduced.
Political parties may spend the entire fund at once rather than
in phases.
Center and States are equal and sovereign within their
jurisdiction. Simultaneous elections may reduce the importance
of state elections. Thus it affects the concept of federalism.
Article 83(2) and Article 172 of the Constitution require that the
Lok Sabha and State legislatures be in existence for five years
from the date of its first meeting, “unless dissolved earlier”.
Simultaneous elections ignore this phrase, as there would be
no opportunity to dissolve Lok Sabha or State Assemblies.
A government can be in power as long as it enjoys the
confidence of Parliament. Simultaneous elections can work only
if governments last for a fixed tenure of five years regardless of
the confidence of Parliament. It negates the concept of a ‘no-
confidence motion’ – an important tool for legislative control
over the executive.
Elections are an important part of representative democracy.
Simultaneous elections with a fixed tenure of five years curtail
people’s right to express their confidence or displeasure with
the government.
Simultaneous elections will relegate local issues or issues of
state importance to the background. This completely ignores
the diversity of the country.
Holding simultaneous elections once in five years may also
face logistical challenges. For the free and fair conduct of the
elections, security forces need to be deployed in large
numbers. Given the current strength of security personnel, this
may be a challenging task.
Conclusion
As discussed above the idea of simultaneous elections has Advantages as
well as difficulties in implementation. Solutions should be found to specific
problems.
The model code of Conduct shouldn’t be stretched too long.
There should be clear guidelines on do’s and don’ts for the
government.
To curb election expenditure, alternative ways such as reforms
in the expenditure of political parties and state funding of
political parties could be discussed.
