BJP leader L K Advani today strongly pitched for holding
simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies which should have a
"fixed tenure" and sought the President's initiative in this regard,
saying frequent polls affect decision-making process.
"Some time back I had occasion to discuss this matter with the Prime
Minister and then Leader of the House in Lok Sabha and now the Rashtrapati
Pranab Mukherjee. I found both of them receptive to the suggestion.
"I offered that there should be no midway dissolution of either the Lok
Sabha or the state assemblies. Both these institutions must have a fixed
tenure," Advani wrote on his blog today.
Noting that a lot is being written these days about the need for election
reforms to curb the role of money power, he urged the President to take
"an initiative" to ensure poll reforms in their totality.
"Let the present government in which he (the President) himself has been a
principal player accomplish this one thing at least: a fixed tenure for Lok
Sabha and state assemblies, and simultaneous elections at the Centre and states
every five years," Advani said.
In this regard, he referred to the US where elections are held after every four
years and also pointed to a legislation enacted by Great Britain last year for
a fixed term of Parliament.
"When for six years we were in the NDA government we actually experienced
how impending elections even in a remote corner of the country used to
influence decision-making in New Delhi. I feel this is not good either for
governance or for the polity," he said.
Recalling the first general elections in 1952 when Lok Sabha and assembly polls
were held together, Advani said the process was repeated in the next three
elections of 1957, 1962 and 1967.
But elections to both the Centre and the states could not be held
simultaneously in 1972 when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi dissolved the
Lok Sabha and held the fifth general elections in March 1971, he said.
"The Assembly elections took place as scheduled in 1972.
This is how the initial delinking of Lok Sabha and Assembly elections took
place," he wrote on his blog.
He said the presence of Article 356 in the Constitution which empowers the
Union government to dissolve a state Assembly and take over the governance of
the state has too resulted in the delinking of the election programme of
different states from one another.
At present, he felt, with state after state going for elections every year,
running the Union government has become a challenge especially when the country
"is in a perpetual election mode".
He said it would, therefore, be "very appropriate" if the new
President takes the initiative in reforming electoral process.
"For the non-partisan responsibility, Pranab Da has just assumed, taking
an initiative regarding electoral reform would be very appropriate," he
said.
