Govt forms committee on simultaneous elections: What is the idea, and the arguments around it?

In November of that year, then Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that even though the Election Commission would “prefer it”, but he did not see it “happening very shortly”. He said it could happen only if political parties “sit together and evolve some consensus. Do the requisite amendments in the law, so that (poll) cycle can be brought together,” he added.

Assembly polls are due in five states in November-December of 2023 and they will be followed by the Lok Sabha elections in May-June next year. However, the recent moves by the government have thrown open the possibility of advancing the general elections and some state polls, which are scheduled after and with the Lok Sabha contest.

What are the arguments around holding simultaneous elections?

There are pros and cons here. Making polls simultaneous would address various concerns, such as reducing the cost of holding elections and limiting all elections to a single season. At present, there is an election in one state or the other at almost any given time, and those who favour simultaneous polls argue that the Model Code of Conduct gets in the way of the government announcing projects or policy plans.

Against the idea, the arguments include the complexity of such an exercise, the widely held view that simultaneous polls would benefit the nationally dominant party at the cost of regional players, and the complications that would arise if any of the governments were to collapse before completing its term. Leave alone state legislatures, even the central government could fall.

Of the Lok Sabhas since 1952, many were dissolved ahead of schedule — such as in 1971, 1980, 1984, 1991, 1998, 1999 and 2004. There would also be logistical issues, requiring about twice as many electronic voting machines and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines.

But when elections were first held in independent India, were they not simultaneous to begin with?

Yes. However, a series of political changes in different states changed this cycle.

Lok Sabha and state legislatures went to polls together in 1952 and 1957, with the Congress initially comfortably placed all over the country. The synchronised cycle was first broken in Kerala, in July 1959, when the Centre invoked Article 356 of the Constitution to dismiss the ministry headed by E M S Namboodiripad of the Communist Party, which had assumed power after elections in April 1957. This was followed by state elections in February 1960.

As the Congress’s popularity declined, it suffered major setbacks in several states —Bihar, UP, Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal, Orissa, Madras and Kerala — in the 1967 elections. Consequently, Samyukta Vidhayak Dal governments, comprising Bharatiya Kranti Dal, SSP, PSP, Swatantra Party, Jana Sangh and Congress defectors, came to power. Defections and counter-defections ultimately led to the dissolution of Assemblies, which separated the poll cycles of many states from the central one.

At present, Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim are held together with Lok Sabha polls.

In recent years, Assemblies have been completing their tenures, mainly because of the anti-defection law of 1985 and Supreme Court judgments on invoking Article 356. The Supreme Court had held that the President can put a state Assembly in suspended animation, but cannot dissolve it without the concurrence of Parliament. Further, the validity of the proclamation of President’s rule may be examined by the judiciary.

Has the idea of simultaneous polls been explored before?

The Election Commission had suggested back in 1983 that such a system be worked out. The Law Commission headed by Justice B P Jeevan Reddy, in its 170th Report in May 1999, stated, “We must go back to the situation where the elections to Lok Sabha and all the Legislative Assemblies are held at once”.

In 2003, then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee took up the issue with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. She appeared initially receptive, but the idea did not take off from there.

In 2010, BJP leader LK Advani met with then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and then wrote in his blog: “I found both of them (PM and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee) receptive to a proposal I have been advocating for quite some time: fixed term legislatures and simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.” He noted that the country witnessed a “mini-general election” every alternate year, and wrote, “This is not good for the health either of our Central and State governments, or of our polity.”

Sunil Arora also said in 2019, that the EC would be supportive of the idea. “Yes, we would also prefer it. And this is not a bureaucratic statement, just saying we agree in principle, etc.,” Arora said. He added that simultaneous elections are “a very desirable goal, but for that, political systems of the country will have to take steps to align the life of a state Assembly with the life of Parliament”.

How have matters moved on ‘One Nation, One Election’ after the NDA came to power?

In 2015, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, headed by E M Sudarsana Natchiappan, compiled a report on ‘Feasibility of Holding Simultaneous Elections to House of People (Lok Sabha) and State Legislative Assemblies’.

“The holding of simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies would reduce: (i) the massive expenditure that is currently incurred for the conduct of separate elections; (ii) the policy paralysis that results from the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct during election time; (iii) impact on delivery of essential services and (iv) burden on crucial manpower that is deployed during election time,” the report observed.

However, the Congress told the committee it was “impractical” and “unworkable”. The Trinamool Congress said it was anti-democratic and unconstitutional, while the CPI and the NCP said it was “not feasible”. The CPI(M) too pointed at “practical problems”.

Also in 2017, in a discussion paper, ‘Analysis of Simultaneous Elections: The “What”, “Why”, and “How”’, Bibek Debroy and Kishore Desai of the NITI Aayog wrote that the elections of 2009 had cost the exchequer about Rs 1,115 crore, and the 2014 elections about Rs 3,870 crore. The total spent on the elections, including the expenses incurred by parties and candidates, was several times more.

Has there been an effort to address the concerns that would arise?

In a draft report on August 30, 2018, the Law Commission headed by Justice B S Chauhan held that simultaneous elections could not be held within the existing framework of the Constitution. These could be held together “through appropriate amendments to the Constitution, the Representation of the People Act 1951, and the Rules of Procedure of Lok Sabha and state Assemblies”.

At least 50% of the states may ratify the constitutional amendments. The Commission recommended that all elections due in a calendar year be conducted together. Since a no-confidence motion, if passed, may curtail the term of Lok Sabha or an Assembly, the Law Commission recommended replacing the “no-confidence motion” with a “constructive vote of no-confidence” through appropriate amendments — a government may only be removed if there is confidence in an alternative government.

Is there a meeting point in sight?

The Opposition is wary of a concept that would take away the regional element of state polls, and leave regional personalities overshadowed by national leaders. The hugely expanding BJP, on the other hand, included the idea in its poll manifesto. With Prime Minister Modi as its face, a single campaign and election would take care of all Assemblies and Lok Sabha. Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav has said the idea amounts to “One Nation, One Election, One Party, One Leader”.

In 2023 too, leaders from parties such as Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress have opposed the idea so far.

This article is an updated version of an explainer first published in 2019. You can click here to read it.