INTRODUCTION

India, the world’s largest democracy, has demonstrated remarkable resilience over the decades.
Since gaining independence from British colonial rule in 1947, the country has undergone significant
transformations while maintaining its democratic ethos.

India has consistently performed well in elections throughout the course of the past 77 years since
gaining independence the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights have helped close
historical disparities and promote diversity.

This demonstrates the widespread confidence in the democratic values and structures that India’s

founding fathers intended.

In our country democracy simply means ‘by the people, for the people and of the people’ which
simply tries to comply that in India every representation processes revolves around the people of
India.

One Nation One Election refers to the proposal of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha
and all State Legislative Assemblies in India. The fundamental aim is to align the electoral cycles
across different levels of government, conducting elections concurrently or within a set timeframe.

HISTORY THAT IS NOT NEW TO US

On 1st September 2023 a committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind explores the
possibility of something called One nation One election in India and ever since this thing has come
out in public, political parties all across the country have been fuming with anger. Rahul Gandhi is
calling it an attack on the Indian Union. On one side, while it is being hailed as a revolutionary policy,
on the other side, it is being criticized as the abuse of power and a BJP's secret instrument to win the
2024 elections.

Elections to the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies are held separately ,when their
respective 5 year term come to an end and these terms do not coincide with each other. So
elections are held in different states in different times but the One nation One election proposal
suggests that these elections must be held simultaneously. Whereby the voters would cast their
votes for both the state representatives and their national representatives at the same time. This is
not a new thing at all. In fact, after the adoption of the Constitution, the election to the Lok Sabha
and all state legislative assemblies were held simultaneously from 1951 till 1967, but from 1967
onwards, India saw a lot of political turmoil. For example, in 1967 elections, the Congress party lost
control in several states like Bihar, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. These states either saw non Congress
parties or coalitions coming to power. Then in 1968 president's rule was imposed just 1 year after the
State elections and in 1971, the then Prime Minister Indra Gandhi called for early general elections,
which were originally scheduled to be held in 1972 this again, led to a de-linking of the general
election schedule from the State elections scheduled, so one nation one election is not a new
concept but naturally got disturbed due to political instability.
Why did Government introduced this?

o INDIA WILL OVERCOME THE INEFFICIENCY OF MORAL CODE OF CONDUCT

WHAT IS MODEL CODE OF CONDUCT ?

The model code of conduct is a set of guidelines which are issued by the election commission of
India and they are used to regulate the political parties and candidates prior to the elections, from
the day that the date of elections are announced till the entire process of election is complete except
for the routine administrative activities any other development program, welfare scheme or capital
project shall be suspended. Similarly, when the State elections are held, the State government
cannot start on it's any giant project, even if they're super important for the state's economy. For
example, in the 2019 general elections, the model code of conduct came into effect from March
10th, when the election dates were announced till May 23rd, when the final election results were
declared. So during these 2.5 months the centre could not initiate any new highway project welfare
skill and they could not initiate any new health care scheme all across the country. In Karnataka state
assembly elections, the model code of conduct was in effect from 29th of March 23 to 13th of May
2023. So what's happening for 2.5 months? The centre could not initiate anything and for 1.5 months
the state could not initiate anything so effectively. And it's simply not functioning to initiate any new
projects at all. The election commission of India believes that if these parties are allowed to make
grand announcement just before elections, these parties both at the centre and state might use this
announcement to lure the voters to vote for their parties.

o ELECTION EXPENDITURE(TO SAVE THE COST)

The 2019 elections alone costs us 60,000 crores in total and it was the world's most expensive
election and this number is increasing at an alarming rate.

Even the candidates spent a lot of money in their campaigns according to official figures, party spent
1587 crores in campaining but unofficially, this number is estimated to be around 30,000 crores, and
just after the 2014 parliamentary elections, many state elections were conducted, which again
costed us very heavily.

If only all these state estimate elections and parliamentary elections were held together, it would
have costed us just 4500 crores, which means we would have easily saved at least 2000 crores
election expenses . On top of that, there are also other losses that come along with the election
process. For example, every time elections are held the need to set app polling stations, security
arrangements and logistics cost two times, one for the general election and one for the state
elections, so instead of deploying polling boots, electronic voting machines and security personnel
for state election and then again for the national election. If everything could be deployed once it will
cut down the cost by a large extent.

o GOVERNANCE DOWNTIME

In simple words, the time that the government officials spend on election duty is the time that they
will not spend on governance. For example, civil servants are often pulled away from their regular
duties to oversee election logistic but with one nation one election, such important people can
actually spend months of their time into actual governance. Even the politicians will save a lot of
money because they just have to campaign once in a particular state.

So, now the question is, if one nation, 1 election is such an amazing concept. Then why are these
political parties opposing? It isn't just propaganda or do they have some medal to their argument?
CRITICISMS

o Well as it turns out, some studies state that with one nation one election, there is a chance
that the top party is more likely to win. The study in 2015 by the IDC institute that showed
that if elections occur together, there is a 77% chance that the top party will rule both the
state and the country, but if these elections happen, 6 months apart this percentage drops to
61%.
o Eventually the national parties will benefit, whereas the smaller regional parties might
struggle to get their voice. Heard thoroughly in a standard election system.
o In a staggered election system the politicians are constantly under the scanner so after they
get elected at the centre if the party does something bad they know that they will lose votes
in the state elections so when elections are always around, it creates a consistent pressure to
keep the politicians in check and makes them more responsive to the problems of the
nation.

For example, the general elections were first held in 2014 and then in 2019 but in between this time
span, several state elections happened like elections in Maharashtra and Haryana happened in
October 2014, Jammu and Kashmir, November 2014 and Jharkhand in January 2015. So even
between both these general elections, the government was constantly under the pressure to
perform well so that they can win the elections in all these states, but at the same time if these
elections are held only once in 5 years, the argument says that it will make the government
complacent, and it will ease the pressure of the politicians to be more responsible.

CONCLUSION

And lastly, executing the one nation, one election policy is going to be a very, very tough challenge.
because all the government tenures will have to be regulated for this term. And even after its
implementation if again one of these state parties fall or if the government at the centre is dissolved
then again the whole schedule will go out of sync so this is the dark side of the one nation one
election move .

SUGGESTIONS

o The Constitution of India is supreme over any policy and citizen’s rights are above every
convenience. Currently constitution does not endorse this concept but through amendments
it can be made possible .
o Articles 83 and 172 of the Constitution needs to be amended with reference to
Representation Of the People Act , 1951.