SY Qureshi
Once again the discussion of One Nation, One Election i.e. one country, one election is in full swing in the country. Though One Nation, One Election has been discussed earlier also, but the matter could not move forward, recently after the high level committee constituted by the government under the chairmanship of former President Ramnath Kovind, the discussion on One Nation, One Election has started in the entire country. Discussion has started on this. This high level committee has been entrusted with the responsibility of examining every aspect of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and all the Legislative Assemblies and placing before the country its practicality. Only on the basis of the recommendations of this committee, the idea of One Nation, One Election will be able to come to fruition. It is good that the government has started this initiative. It is not that no committee has given any suggestion on this issue before.
Law Commission, NITI Aayog and Standing Committee of Parliament have also discussed on One Nation, One Election, but failed to present any concrete solution to implement it. In such a situation, it will be interesting to see how the current committee prepares a solid foundation for One Nation, One Election. Law experts and constitutional experts have also been included in the members of this committee. The issue of One Nation, One Election is very complex and the views of all political parties and stakeholders will have to be taken into account in order to arrive at a consensus. Along with this, the advice of legal and constitutional experts will also have to be taken and a unanimous decision will have to be taken only after extensive deliberations.
The concept of One Nation, One Election sounds good, but in a country like India, one may have to face many problems in implementing it. There is a lot of diversity in the states of India and there are different political situations in the states. In some states regional parties are strong, in some states the contest is between national parties and in some there is a coalition government. In such a situation, if a coalition government is formed in a state and it falls within a few months, then who will rule the state and hold elections along with the Lok Sabha? Will there be President’s rule in the state till the elections are held? There is a fixed time limit for imposing President’s rule in any state.
All these questions have to be considered. Apart from this, in the states where the government has less time to form, will that government be dissolved to hold simultaneous elections? Will the parties in power in the state agree to this? Similarly, there may be situations like no party getting majority in the Lok Sabha and Vidhansabha, fall of the government due to defection and no party claiming to form the government. Whether the government with the majority will have the right to recommend dissolution of the assembly or the Lok Sabha or not, such issues will have to be seriously considered.
Many amendments will have to be made in the constitution to implement One Nation, One Election. After passing these amendments in the Parliament, in order to implement them at the national level, half of the country’s state assemblies will also have to pass them. Only after this will this law be made. It is not possible to take a unilateral decision to implement this thinking and this decision is possible only on the basis of consensus. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had talked about discussing One Nation, One Election after coming to power at the Centre. This is also mentioned in the BJP’s 2014 manifesto. The government asked the Law Commission, Election Commission and Standing Committee of Parliament to consider this issue and three suggestions were given to the government on their behalf.
First, holding separate elections incurs a lot of expense. Second, due to repeated elections, the code of conduct is imposed and government work is affected and third, the movement of essential goods during elections is affected. It is true that holding separate elections leads to higher expenses. Apart from government expenditure, expenditure incurred by political parties is also included. The government cannot make new announcements after the code of conduct is imposed, but there is no restriction on the old schemes and the decisions of public interest can be implemented by the government with the approval of the Election Commission. In such a situation, it is not correct to say that the work of the government gets affected during elections. It is true that during elections the priority of the district administration is to conduct fair elections and teachers and other employees are engaged in election work. This affects education in schools and affects the functioning of government offices. In such a situation, it is not right to talk about One Nation, One Election only on the basis of these suggestions.
It is true that security personnel have to be deployed on a large scale during elections. In case of simultaneous elections, security personnel will have to be deployed only once for the elections. Apart from this, separate voter lists have to be prepared for all elections. Observers are deployed during elections and holding simultaneous elections will reduce these expenses, but we should keep in mind that during elections many people get employment opportunities and this boosts the rural economy. Also, if the public representative feels that elections will be held only after five years, then he will not be able to remain as accountable to the voters. In such a situation, there are many shortcomings of One Nation, One Election. If simultaneous elections are held, the Election Commission will need EVMs and VVPAT machines on a large scale. At present, the Election Commission does not have EVMs available to conduct all the elections simultaneously. Although the Election Commission is capable of conducting all the elections simultaneously, but all the issues related to One Nation, One Election will have to be considered by the high-level committee constituted by the government. Everyone should wait for the report of this committee. At present it would not be appropriate to give any opinion in this matter.
(These are the personal views of the author)
(based on conversation)