‘One Nation, One Election’: Panel gets thousands of responses on simultaneous polls

According to sources, around 8,000 emails and submissions of feedback through the committee’s website had been received as of the end of last week. The final number was expected to increase, they said, adding that several submissions include those who have sent lengthy research papers on the topic and some who have given their opinion on other potential electoral reforms.

The suggestions would be analysed and placed before the committee during a meeting, however, that was unlikely to be this month as it would take officials time to go through every submission, a source said, requesting anonymity.
Among those who responded to the committee was the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which in its letter on Monday wrote that simultaneous elections would lead to “artificially cutting short or extending the terms of elected assemblies which strikes at the root of Parliamentary democracy”. The ADR letter — signed by its founders Professors Jagdeep Chhokar and Trilochan Sastry, and head Major General Anil Verma (retired) — said that there was “serious apprehensions” that the advocacy of simultaneous elections was a “sleight of hand aimed at changing the federal character of the Constitution to a unitary structure”. The ADR said that the rising cost of elections could be addressed by putting a cap on campaign spending by parties.

“The optimal course of action, to conserve precious resources of the nation that are currently being expended on multiple discussions on holding simultaneous elections, is to give up this attempt and focus on real issues facing the country and its people,” said the ADR.

Opposing the proposal, AIMIM president and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owasi also wrote to the committee on Monday. Owasi said that he had expressed the same objections to the Law Commission in 2018, when it had sought suggestions for the same. He also said that the government had not provided any rationale for the move, and the discussion was on how simultaneous elections are to be implemented, rather than why.

“The focus is on the ‘creation of an appropriate legal and administrative framework for holding simultaneous elections on a permanent basis’. More importantly, it has not been explored if such fundamental changes to India’s democratic structure are constitutionally permissible in the first place. This is a solution in search of a problem. I would like to reiterate that elections are not a mere formality. Voters are not rubber stamps… Elections cannot be subject to such weak considerations as administrative convenience or economic viability,” wrote Owaisi.

Meanwhile, the committee on January 4 wrote to several former Chief Election Commissioners, seeking their suggestions on the matter by January 15 as well. Former CEC O P Rawat on Monday said that he would send suggestions in his response. Former CEC Sunil Arora confirmed to The Indian Express that he, too, had received the committee’s letter.

The Law Ministry had set up the committee in September 2023, to suggest ways to hold simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, the state assemblies, and panchayats. It has so far conducted two meetings regarding the matter.