NEW DELHI: Amid the debate on the feasibility of conducting simultaneous elections in the country, eminent jurist Fali Nariman said that the country is increasingly moving towards presidential system and the trend of autocratic governments is visible across the world.
Nariman made the remarks during a panel discussion at the launch of former chief election commissioner SY Quraishi’s book titled ‘India’s Experiment with Democracy: The Life of a Nation Through its Elections’.
Quraishi said holding simultaneous polls has both pros and cons. He said that people love elections. The phenomenon of accountability of MLAs and MPs and the people getting importance during polls was a major factor in favour of elections taking place repeatedly, he said.
Participating in the discussion, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who was also a panelist, said he does not see it as a feasible reform and asserted that reducing the number and frequency of polls would be “undemocratic”. Tharoor rejected the arguments that simultaneous polls would lessen the burden on the exchequer and that governance comes to a grinding halt due to a continuous election cycle.
Now, the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) argues that it (continuous election cycle) is more expensive. There is a study done by the NITI Aayog... After we dug this up, we found out that the cost was `5,000 more per voter if elections were not simultaneous. This is not a sum that the Indian exchequer cannot absorb,” the MP from Thiruvananthapuram said.
“Even more troubling is the other argument that governance comes to a grinding halt. Frankly, that is not anyone’s fault but that of the ruling party’s,” the Congress leader said. Referring to remarks of Nariman, on increasing trend towards the presidential system, Tharoor said,
“In some way, Fali sahab, a presidential system would be more honest because at least you would have an independent legislature. Right now, we have the worst of both worlds — a parliamentary system being run presidentially and Parliament is completely toothless.”
Responding to Tharoor, Nariman quipped, “In a presidential system you won’t be able to hold a meeting like this.” Tharoor added that the presidential and parliamentary forms were a completely different debate.
History, processes and politics of elections
The panelists hailed former chief election commissioner SY Quraishi for his book, published by HarperCollins India, that looks at the history, processes and politics of elections in India. During the discussion, Tharoor also talked about the perception of reduced neutrality of the Election Commission, alleging that there have specifically been lapses on the part of the poll panel that have given rise to concerns.