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The logistics challenges of holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state Assemblies — arranging around 30 lakh electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines, and deploying central forces around the country — will be immense, but not insurmountable, according to several former Chief Election Commissioners (CEC).
Parliament and state elections were held simultaneously until 1967, but over the years as Assemblies and Lok Sabhas were dissolved before the end of their terms, the elections fell out of sync with each other. Currently, elections to the Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim Houses are held along with Lok Sabha polls.
In 2022, then CEC Sushil Chandra had said the Election Commission of India (ECI) was “fully geared up” to hold simultaneous elections. Current CEC Rajiv Kumar declined to comment on the issue on Friday.
To be able to hold simultaneous elections, the EC will need around 30 lakh EVMs, according to estimates. Former CEC O P Rawat said the government had asked the ECI to study the feasibility of simultaneous polls in 2015. Rawat was one of the Election Commissioners at the time.
“The ECI has been recommending since 1982 that an amendment should be brought to bring those state assemblies that are out of sync with Lok Sabha back in sync. In 2015, we submitted a feasibility report to the government. It would require amendments to the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act. And the ECI would need more time and money to manufacture more EVMs and VVPATs. A total of about 30 lakh EVMs (control units) would be needed,” Rawat said.
As of March, the ECI had 13.06 lakh control units (CUs) and 17.77 lakh ballot units (BUs) of EVMs, the Law Minister had told Parliament. Another 9.09 lakh CUs and 13.26 lakh BUs were under production, taking the total to 22.15 lakh CUs and 31.03 lakh BUs.
Prof Rajat Moona, director of the Indian Institute of Technology-Gandhinagar and a member of the ECI’s technical committee on EVMs, said it had taken about a year to manufacture 6-7 lakh EVMs, making the task of simultaneous polls in 2024 “difficult”.
In submissions to the government and Committees of Parliament, the ECI has over the years flagged what it would take to hold simultaneous polls. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice had noted in its 2015 report the “several difficulties” pointed out by the ECI.
“The chief issue highlighted by them is that simultaneous conduct of elections would require large-scale purchase of Electronic Voting Machines and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines. For conducting simultaneous elections, the Commission expects that a total of Rs 9,284.15 crore will be needed for procurement of EVMs and VVPATs. The machines would also need to be replaced every 15 years which would again entail expenditure. Further, storing these machines would increase the warehousing cost,” the committee report said.
Rawat said: “As of now, the ECI delivers the cheapest election in the world — one dollar, one vote. That means each EVM is used over multiple elections. If there are simultaneous polls, EVMs would be used for three elections as their life span is about 15 years.”
From 2014 to 2019, the Union government gave states and Union Territories a total of Rs 5,814.29 crore for holding elections, as per a reply to Parliament in 2021.
The requirement of central forces to maintain law and order during the poll process may pose another challenge. Rawat said most states ask for central forces during elections. The movement of the forces and polling parties is another issue that must be addressed.
Former CEC T S Krishnamurthy said the idea of simultaneous elections had its pros and cons. “It will save time, expenditure, and administrative labour. There are challenges, but they are not insurmountable. If the elections are held over a span of three-four months, it can be done,” he said.
