The National Democratic Alliance promoting the scheme of ‘One Nation One Election’ ONOE, is called a simultaneous poll plan. This so-called ‘scheme’ does not include polls for the local bodies. One Nation One Election is impossible, because the whole nation has to go to polls for local bodies, but at different times, or it may be postponed indefinitely. This means there will be two elections all over the nation. This scheme is a big task with high risk to federal India. The Prime Minister declared that the frequent polls require updating voter lists and involve many tasks, often affecting teachers’ duties besides creating governance difficulties. Nation cannot ignore the political repercussions are far as consequences, which are both a Constitutional and political problem. The Government explained the concept of “One Nation One Election” and referred to countries like the U.S., where the date for forming a new government was fixed, and elections were held every four years. The President of the 76th Republic explained that ‘Simultaneous polls will prevent policy paralysis’. She said the proposal to synchronize election schedules in the country is a reform measure that promises to “redefine” the terms of good governance. She said that the on-oe plan can promote consistency in governance, prevent policy paralysis, mitigate resource diversion, and reduce the financial burden, apart from offering many other benefits.” Essentially it is to simultaneously conduct elections to the Lok Sabha & state legislative assemblies of all 28 states & 8 union territories. The Bill was introduced in our Parliament’s Lower house, Lok Sabha on 17th December 2024, while a division vote was followed, where 269 members supported the move and 198 opposed it. There is nothing in this scheme. Earlier also the Centre called “scheme” which later turned into a scam rejected by the Supreme Court. At the beginning of the first elections after Independence, the elections were held simultaneously with the state legislative assembly elections. That was the good practice that continued till 1967, the system of simultaneous elections was disrupted in 1968 and 1969 due to the premature dissolution of some state assemblies.

After general elections, several by-elections in different parts of Lok Sabha and Assemblies were conducted because most of them resigned after winning twice or more seats by one candidate. Sometimes, one Lok Sabha member is retained or one of two or three Assembly and two or three Assembly states in the same state. Unnecessary several dozens of states went for by-election.

The Centre issued, on 2 September 2023, a notification constituting a high-level committee to examine the issue of simultaneous elections, which says: “Elections to the House of the People and Legislative Assemblies of States were mostly held simultaneously from 1951-52 to 1967 after which this cycle got broken and now, elections are held almost every year and within a year too at different times, which result in the massive expenditure by the Government and other stakeholders, diversion of security forces and other electoral officers engaged in such elections from their primary duties for significantly prolonged periods, disruption in developmental work on account of the prolonged application of Model Code of Conduct, etc. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the ‘One Nation One Poll’ would be implemented in two phases, stressing that the proposal received support from a large number of parties.” Vaishnaw said: “The opposition might start feeling internal pressure (about One Nation One Election) as more than 80% of respondents who responded during the consultant process have given their positive support, especially the youth, they are very much in favour of this,” The Law Commission of India in its 170th Report on Reforms of the Electoral Laws observed that: “This cycle of elections every year, and in the out of season, should be put an end to. We must go back to the situation where the elections to Lok Sabha and all the Legislative Assemblies are held simultaneously.

IMPACT OF S.R. BOMMAI AND POLITICAL DISMISSALS

But political dynamics may not be the same. The Government has ‘dismissed’ state Assemblies leading to elections separately, mostly without any reason. The Article 356 of the Constitution is mostly abused by the Centre. The High Courts and the Supreme Court several times did not agree with undemocratic decisions. Rightly the Supreme Court in the decision of the Supreme Court in S.R. Bommai vs Union of India, stability in state assemblies improved. The apex judgment explained that holding a separate election to a Legislative Assembly should be an exception and not the rule. Still, the Government stated that ‘the rule ought to be ‘one election once in five years for Lok Sabha and all the Legislative Assemblies’. Every illegal dismissal of the Government and dissolution of Assemblies generated new elections, even in the last decade also several governments were toppled by the Centre. Most of the dismissals were struck down by the Supreme Courts but it was impossible to revive the removed government, as decades were consumed. Most of the strictures of the apex court remained as academic lectures and journal articles. The people were repeatedly left under the President’s Rule, which in fact, the removal of State Assemblies were done by the Prime Minister. In August 2018, the Law Commission of India released its draft report on simultaneously holding all direct elections in the country, beginning with the panchayats and ending with the Lok Sabha, within a single year. Perhaps it is impossible even after the ‘reforms’ initiated by the Centre.

NEED 18 AMENDMENTS

Our nation had the over-century amendments have witnessed. But the present Government needs to introduce 18 amendments a record at once. Almost immediately after his term as President, Ram Nath Kovind submitted on 14 March 2024, a very heavy 18,000-page final report prepared by the committee to the President of India, Draupadi Murmu. The panel has suggested simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies as the first step. The panel has recommended as many as 18 constitutional amendments. Congress leader P. Chidambaram said that the government was accelerating the process by appointing a “puppet committee.” He said that by combining national and state elections, the BJP hopes to win the Lok Saba poll with a two-thirds majority and win enough states to implement on-ground sweeping changes to the Constitution. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “We don’t stand with this. One Nation One Election cannot work in a democracy. Elections need to be held as and when required if we want our democracy to survive.”

2024 ELECTIONS

Despite bold statements on the One Nation One Election, and amendments to criminal laws, the introduction of DATA Act with serious impact on the democratic setup of our nation the NDA hoped to gain more than 400 seats in Lok Sabha 2024 Elections. But the BJP-led NDA was decreased from 353 to 293 seats with the BJP itself being reduced from 303 to 240 seats. However, the opposition opposed it. The I.N.D.I.A. led by the Indian National Congress & consisting of regional parties like SP, AITC, DMK & RJD which did not agree to simultaneous polls, won 233 seats which created a strong ‘opposition’. According to one assessment, it requires many amendments to the Constitution for implementing simultaneous polls can be done only after securing at least 2/3 supermajority in both Houses of the Parliament (362 in Lok Sabha & 167 in Rajya Sabha), very little to no progress on this proposal is to be made for the upcoming future. The Government is enthusiastic enough to change political equations to increase the strength of the Rajya Sabha, while they are confident to manipulate the majority with the allies with NDA. Political pundits called it a ‘fanciful, but unconstitutional, idea rather than examining an issue, which it obediently did. As per the schedule start a new electoral cycle from 2029. This will require extending the term of those state legislative assemblies that are due to expire before this date & prematurely dissolve others whose 5-year term extends beyond this date.

AMENDMENTS

There should be as many as 18 amendments to the Constitution, most importantly Article 83 (concerning the duration of the Houses of the Parliament) & Article 172 (concerning the duration of the state legislative assemblies) are required. Some Assemblies may be dissolved, while others should be extended. The Constitutional provisions asked for by Articles 83(2) and 172(1), the elections to the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabhas are for five years ‘unless sooner dissolved’. The framers of the Constitution did not see any abnormality if a house was dissolved earlier. Article 83(2) foresees a possibility of the Lok Sabha term being extended for a year (at a time) and ‘not extending in any case beyond a period of six months after the Proclamation has ceased to operate.’ Article 172(1) unambiguously prescribes the same term for the Legislative Assemblies of the states. Though the Constitution gives power to the Centre to reduce or extend the term of the Assembly, it assumes high power to decide the ‘dates’ as per their ‘will and pleasure’. As per the Constitution, States are required to ratify amendments to Article 324A (to allow simultaneous elections in panchayats & municipal bodies) & Article 325 (to empower the Election Commission of India to create a common electoral roll & voter IDs with the help of the state election commissions) passed by the Parliament. To sync the term of the State Legislative Assemblies with that of the Lok Sabha, the term of the state legislative assemblies can be reduced and increased accordingly. In all many constitutional amendments may be needed in Articles 83, 85, 172, 174, and 356.

ARBITRARY POWER IN THE CENTRE

This means the ‘discretion’ may be used in favour or against the opposition states. There cannot be any ‘constitutional’ obligation on the state. It means the Government at the center will decide the fate of state assemblies, which results in a ‘disturbance’ of the rule of ‘one nation one vote’. If that is the case, the entire purpose of ‘onov’ suffers and gets defeated. There is no guarantee that the Center, whether in position or opposition will surely adhere to this rule. This fails the overall ‘Rule of Law’ which can be grossly misused. Besides the 72 and 74th Constitutional amendments from 1993 will suffer similar risks in the hands of the ‘state Assemblies’. The rule of onov will be violated adversely affecting panchayats in rural areas and municipalities in urban areas. An entire exercise goes wasted, unless the one Government or Alliance may hold the power for several decades, which surely converts democracy into dictatorship. The national opposition took a stand to disagree with the scheme of NDA, but the 12 regional parties, including the RJD, JMM, TDP, SAD, and BRS, had not responded at all. Do they have any ideas or philosophy? This kind of ‘silence’ of these parties will create a political vacuum and centralize the entire power to Delhi. It may even signal opportunistic politics. In 1952, immediately after the start of the functioning of the Republic, we had both ‘central and state’ polls together. The Centre went on dismissing the opposition party in Kerala in 1959, failed rule of ‘concurrent’ elections. Whichever was the Government, their politics was based on various reasons such as defections, dismissals, and dissolutions of state governments. The politics have no moral, legal, or ethical grounds for disturbing the governments of the states, and the states cannot business to dismiss the local bodies too. The renowned Judges supported the simultaneous elections, for instance, Justice BP Jeevan Reddy, in 1999. But the unethical acts for political exploitation of power, may not permit the ‘simultaneous elections. Justice B. S. Chauhan, Law Commission in April 2018 reported that simultaneous elections are not feasible within the existing framework of the Constitution. He said it is unnecessary to make many Constitutional amendments and serious changes to the Representation of People Act would be needed. However, he added: “This will not be possible by 2019. But even if by 2040, the country should start thinking about it.” Article 1 of our Constitution envisaged India as a ‘Union of States’ with federalism qualities. Unfortunately, with the increased power of the Centre, defections, and low political ethics, federalism has suffered greatly.

One Election One Nation: Will It ‘Promote’ Or ‘Prevent Policy Paralysis’?

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ABOUT AUTHORS

MADABHUSHI SRIDHAR