Simultaneous Elections

Constitutional provisions related to simultaneous Elections

• Article 83- Lok Sabha shall have term of 5 years from the date for its first meeting and no longer.
• Article 85 President has power to dissolve Lok Sabha on advice of Union Cabinet.
• Article 172 term for the Legislative Assemblies as five years.
• Article 174 Governor has power to dissolve state assembly on advice of state Cabinet.

Prime Minister raised the pitch for Simultaneous Elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.

Simultaneous Elections means structuring the Indian election cycle in a manner that elections to Lok Sabha and State Assemblies are synchronized together under which voters in a particular constituency vote for both on the same day.

SE were the norm until 1967. But following dissolution of some Legislative Assemblies in 1968 and 1969 and that of Lok Sabha in 1970, elections to State Assemblies and Parliament have been held separately.

• proposed by Election Commission in 1983. Also by Law Commission and NITI Aayog.
• does not mean that voting across country happen on a single day but can be conducted in a phase-wise manner

Arguments in favor of Simultaneous Elections

• Policy paralysis: Frequent elections lead to imposition of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) over prolonged periods suspends development programs
• Huge expenditures: By various stakeholders like political parties, individual candidates, etc. key drivers for corruption and black-money
• Engagement of security forces: which could otherwise be better deployed
• Disrupting public life: impact the functioning of essential services.
• Impact on social fabric: elections perpetuate caste, religion and communal issues as polarizing events
• Focus on populist measures: political class think of immediate electoral gains rather than focus on long-term programmes and policies.
• Impact on voter turnout: law commission simultaneous polls will boost voter turnout.

Arguments against Simultaneous Elections

• Operational feasibility such as how to synchronize cycle for the first time, what will be the procedure in case ruling party/coalition loses majority before 5 years, feasibility for the Election Commission to conduct elections at such a massive scale etc.
• Constitutional issues: Holding SE has certain requirements such as Curtailment and extension of terms of the House of the People/ State Legislative Assemblies, Amendment to the relevant provisions of the Constitution, Amendment to the Representation of People Act, 1951, ratification by the States to these Constitutional amendments.
• National and state issues are different, and simultaneous elections may affect the judgment of voters and and he/she may vote for the same political party
• Reduce government's accountability to the people as frequent elections bring the politicians back to the voters and enhance accountability of politicians to the public
• It can go against federalism as when an election in a State is postponed until the synchronized phase, President’s rule will have to be imposed in the interim period in that state.
• Homogenization of the country, instead of bringing equity, sustaining plurality, and promoting local and regional leadership, as SE may promote national parties.

The issues related to frequent elections can be addressed by, re-looking at the duration of restrictions under MCC, curbing poll expenditures by electoral funding reforms, bringing political parties under RTI, etc.