One nation, one election

The government’s announcement on Friday of forming a panel headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind to explore the feasibility of “one nation, one election” has generated a lot of debate across the country. While the idea of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and all state legislative assemblies is not a new one, the BJP-led government headed by Narendra Modi has been toying with it for quite some time. The announcement to form the panel comes one day after the government announced a special session of Parliament from September 18 to 22. Soon after the announcement of the special session, speculations began across the country over whether the ‘one nation, one election’ proposal, which a section of the media had reported, could be discussed during the session. While the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been speaking about the issue on several occasions, the idea was already in the ruling party’s election manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. It may be recalled that conducting simultaneous elections was the norm in the country until 1967, and as many as four countrywide elections were held this way. The practice, however, stopped after some state assemblies were dissolved prematurely in 1968–69 by the then-Congress government headed by Indira Gandhi. In 1971, the Congress government headed by Indira Gandhi also dissolved the Lok Sabha one year ahead of schedule, and mid-term elections were held for the first time in the country. While former President Kovind has been named as head of the panel to examine the scope for holding simultaneous elections, it was then President Ram Nath Kovind who told Parliament in 2018 that holding frequent elections was not only a huge burden on human resources and the state exchequer but also impeded the development process due to the promulgation of the model code of conduct. With the issue suddenly taking centre stage, political pundits are also discussing whether Modi is trying to avoid the scheduled elections to three state assemblies ahead of the next Lok Sabha polls so that any major disappointment for the ruling party in the assembly polls does not adversely affect the national elections. Meanwhile, some analysts have put forward the apprehension that ‘one nation, one election’, if implemented, could lead to a presidential form of government in India, and that would be something to ensure a strong and stable central or federal government, as is understood in the United States.