Let’s consider some of the logistical challenges that need to be overcome to hold simultaneous polls - the hugely consequential proposal accepted by the Union cabinet earlier this month. It would involve elections to 545 seats of the Lok Sabha, and 4,123 assembly seats of 28 states and nine Union territories. If you consider it as something way beyond a smooth undertaking, add to it some 31-lakh-odd panchayat seats, tens of thousands of seats for the 4,852 urban local bodies, and you know the size of the task at hand.
The `One Nation, One Election’ report is in its present form an impractical one and may harm federalism in the future in favour of a strong Centre.
The implications are so big that, however reluctant it may be, the ruling alliance at the Centre will have to open channels for consultation with opposition parties to arrive at a consensus. Only then can this provision be passed by both Houses of parliament.
There are many other issues that the Ramnath Kovind-led committee, which submitted its report on the simultaneous elections earlier this year, raises. One is the fall of the Union government in the event of a no-confidence motion. Elections will be held and the government will be in office only till the remainder of the term even if the ruling party has won a majority. Is this a feasible idea? What will be the enormous cost that will be accruing?
A major worry, although the opposition parties have not gone ballistic on this, is the impact on federalism. Simultaneous elections will result in the domination of national issues at the cost of local issues. Even if attempts are made to highlight local issues, they would get drowned in the cacophony of national topics. This may also put national parties at an advantage at the cost of regional ones.
The Kovind report has favoured a presidential notification that will contain an `appointed date’ for the simultaneous polls to start. This is likely to be 2029. While the present Lok Sabha will complete its five year term by then, all state assemblies will need to be dissolved .
Now, the Constitution says the people’s mandate will be for five years unless the government falls through a no-confidence motion and the assembly gets dissolved. There will be 10 states including Karnataka, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan that will complete five years in 2028. They will have to face people again within a year. As many as 17 states will have to go to polls within two, three or four years of their formation. They include Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala etc. If the objective of the whole Kovind exercise is mainly focused on containing expenditure, how does this help?
Another point: should monetary and logistical benefits that the report stresses override the federal structure and democratic ethos of the Indian constitution? There is an argument that frequent elections will help voters to regularly express their views on different issues. Their opinions are a reflection on how the government performed during its term. Synchronised polls will thwart this. Will the new proposal lead to reluctance on the part of opposition parties to move a no-confidence motion against the government?
There is no clarity on the number of amendments required. The Kovind committee says 18 amendments, including 15 constitutional ones, would be required to synchronise polls. However, it remains to be seen if the Centre reduces the number of constitutional amendments given the complexity in getting them passed.
While simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies require parliamentary approval, holding local body polls within 100 days of the synchronised elections require consent from half of the state assemblies.
While the Lok Sabha and assembly polls will be the responsibility of the Election Commission of India, that of local bodies will be in the care of state election commissions. It would be another challenge for the NDA government to hammer out consensus in a fractured Lok Sabha.
Ensuring sufficient numbers of electronic voting machines would be a mammoth task. The committee says the ECI has assured that it can indeed hold simultaneous polls although there is no clarity on the number of electronic voting machines and polling booths required, the numbers of personnel needed, the kind of training required, the security forces required and their transfer from one place to another—all point to the enormous task lying ahead. Is India really up to it?
It would be interesting to see, if the proposal indeed gets the green signal, the number of phases the ECI would take to hold simultaneous polls. The latest effort needed seven phases to hold polls for the Lok Sabha and four state assemblies. Also, the ECI could not hold polls to even four states together in September-October 2024. It decided to conduct elections separately to Jammu & Kashmir and Haryana first, and Maharashtra and Jharkhand later.
Without getting into the merits of the Kovind committee report, it may be pointed out that the panel did not have wide representation in terms of regions. There was no nominee from southern, western or northeastern India, nor any woman on the team. This was much like the 15th Finance Commission, which had only male experts from the corridors of power in Delhi.
(Views are personal)
B S Arun | Senior journalist based in Bengaluru