One Nation, One Election or Simultaneous Elections is a proposal by the Narendra Modi government to simultaneously conduct the union general elections and the assembly elections; that is, the elections to elect the MPs to the Lok Sabha and MLAs to be elected to the Vidhan Sabhas of all 28 states will be conducted at the same time. In March 2024, a committee led by former President Ram Nath Kovind submitted a report on ‘One Nation, One Election’. It has recommended a two-step electoral process: First, elections to the Lok Sabha and assemblies, followed by municipal and panchayat polls within 100 days.
While the idea has been discussed for long, it also raises concerns over the federal structure of the country and how central issues may gain precedence over local and regional issues if the elections are conducted at the same time. The Opposition parties, reacting to the Kovind panel’s submission, has decried the move, saying it will result in “dictatorship” and spell a “death knell for federalism”.
it is all fair and square to discuss the economics and moral part of holding simultaneous elections. one important aspect left out of the discussion is: with aya rams and gaya rams ruling the roost till date, toppling duly elected ruling parties are always at the risk of losing their power, especially on razor thin margins. when a government falls, and people find horse trading will not solve the problem, will it be governor’s rule till the next elections? what is the cure when a state experiences political vacuum like that of Tamilnaadu ? will aya rams take the reins of the state? talking about governor’s rule, someone like romesh bhandari or that infamous indira gadhi cook in Jharkhand is in the hot seat, i shudder to think what will the political status.
anyone willing to risk a reply?
Your assertion that ‘With simultaneous elections, that frequent bouts of accountability will diminish’ is misplaced. The Union Government is accountable to the citizens of India since the citizens get the veto power every 5 years. In these 5 years, the Union Government’s focus should be on development and good governance, which unfortunately takes a back seat because of election campaigns in the states.
Why do you think all modern liberal-democracies (US, UK, Canada, and so on) have fixed elections?
Honestly I am having serious doubts about simultaneous elections giving a advantage to national parties over state parties. Of course there are real financial advantages to this, for both the government and national parties. But I don’t see it as that big.
Also, as for state issues getting lost, I don’t think that will happen. Instead, I think we have strong state parties in most states today which will ensure that state issues are brought front and center at even the national stage. Considering in the current revenue system of the nation states depend so much on funding from the center, I think this is a very very important thing and something that promotes decentralisation and federalism. In fact, here national parties will be at a disadvantage since currently they can be biased towards one state or the other.
The IDFC study data says that people are choosing different parties less. That may be true, though I doubt the causality of the fact. Also we must remember, that does not necessarily mean the people choose the national party.
In the 21st Century, simultaneous state and national elections have only happened in Andhra Pradesh(+Telangana) and Odisha. In AP 2 out of three times a national party won with the INC. In 2014 though in both AP and Telangana, the respective state parties won the state elections and majority of the MP seats as well. In Odisha, each and every time its the state party, BJD, which has continued its dominance despite significant presence of both major national parties.