One Nation, One Election: A reality check
OPINION / POLITICS
One Nation, One Election: A reality check
Monoj Kumar Boruah
Contemporary elections carry some sets of information from representatives to their voters.
In autocracies information flows in a uniform manner from top to bottom in a governmental structure whereas in democracies information acquires certain characteristics and magnifies its role in each stage.
Recently the High Level Committee (HLC) constituted under the chairmanship of former President Ram Nath Kovind submitted its report on ‘One Nation One Election’ (ONOE) to the President of India.
The essay will examine whether the proposed synchronicity of elections would channelize the flow of information in a uniform manner or it would ensure development and economic progress which are considered to be disturbed in a continuous election mood. The report was prepared in 191 days and it contains more than 18,000 pages including suggestions from different political parties and other stakeholders.
India experienced simultaneous elections till 1967 and it’s the most supportive argument for the same. Rajni Kothari termed the one party dominant system till 1967 as the Congress System. Unlike other one party dominant systems elsewhere in the world he considered it as a competitive system where all competitive parts played different role.
He mentioned about three competitive parts namely, party of consensus inside the margin, parties of pressure on the margin and other individuals and pressure groups outside the margin. The Congress party which had overwhelming popularity during the independence movement emerged as a party of consensus. Whereas other political parties like Socialist Party, Kisan Majdoor Praja Party etc and other pressure groups placed themselves on the margin and outside the margin respectively.
Although, there was a margin of pressure factor on the party of consensus regarding its policies or actions, but they couldn’t provide an alternative to party of consensus. Only the leaders and factions inside the margin were influential in changing the regime (Kothari, 1163). The Congress System ended in 1967 with Congress’ defeat in nine legislative assembly elections.
After that Congress lost its status of party of consensus and Indian political system merged into a typical multiparty system resulting into discontinuation of the simultaneous elections. HLC simply mentions that simultaneous elections became irrelevant due to its discontinuation but it fails to analyze the root cause of the changing pattern of elections in India.
The composition of HLC draws attention from its critiques. It was comprised of politicians like Shri Amit Shah, Shri Adhir Ranjan Choudhury, Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad and Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal along with other officials having no political background. But Shri Choudhury, the sole representative of the opposition, resigned from the committee probably because ONOE has been a key election issue for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
This made the HLC tilted towards BJP and the whole issue got divided only upon ideological basis. HLC requested all the political parties to offer necessary suggestions but the scheme was opposed by maximum numbers of parties which stand against BJP politically or ideologically. This ideological divide mere diluted some important horizons of the scheme and made common people away from making some rationale opinions regarding the same.
Scheme mentions the following terms:
a. Appointed date : First sitting of House of the People (HOP) after the general election.
b. Full term : Period of 5 years from appointed date.
c. Unexpired period : Remaining time period to complete the full term when the house is dissolved sooner than expiry of full term.
d. Midterm election : Election for unexpired period.
Report suggests that, after the declaration of the appointed date simultaneous elections will be held in two steps. In the first step elections for HOP and state assemblies will be held together and in the next step elections for municipalities and panchayats will be held within hundred days of the first step. Here midterm elections may occur due to hung house, no confidence motion and other issues in either HOP or in state assemblies.
The tenure of the new HOP shall be the unexpired term of the house and tenure of the new state assembly shall be coterminous with the expiry of full term of HOP. This clearly indicates if HOP or state assemblies loss their confidence at any instant then it may result into multiple midterm elections and as the appointed date commences, HOP and state assemblies will be dissolved to make adjustments with the full term despite having the confidence (of people).
For the first step report suggests insertion of Article 82A and amendments in the Articles 83 and 172 in Indian Constitution to determine the duration of HOP and state assemblies respectively. There is a question mark regarding ensuring special majority for these amendments. But, can the state assemblies be dissolved only to accommodate the full term? Indian federalism is holding together and not coming together.
Constitutional expert K.C. Wheare termed Indian constitution as unitary with some federal features. Idea of division of power also clarifies that centre holds the authority to interfere with the state subjects mentioned in the seventh schedule resulting India into a quasi federal democracy. But S. A. H. Haqqi quotes B. R. Ambedkar that constitution is the sole responsible for creating both the centre and states.
None is subordinate to the other whereas both coordinate with that of the other (Haqqi, 43). Balveer Arora, Rekha Saxena et al. opined that the economic and political ambience of 90s was responsible for transforming Indian federalism into a polycentric one (Arora, Kailash et. al.,102). Also the apex court of the country determined federalism as the basic structure of the constitution in S. R. Bommai vs. Union of India (1994).
Therefore it can be concluded that, federalism has been evolved over the decades and with the emergence of BJP as the single largest party, Indian federalism has been succumbed to various centrist tendencies. A similar system can be assumed as that of the Congress System after 2014, but here BJP has not acquired the status of party of consensus because other political parties are constantly providing alternatives for political regimes of different states.
The most supporting narratives regarding ONOE are expenditure in elections and developmental issues. Budget allotted ₹466 crore in FY2023-24 and ₹340 crore in FY2022-23 to Election Commission (EC) for meeting the expenditure of elections (The Hindu, 26 September 2024). State governments also provide funds for meeting the needs of logistics, vehicles etc.
Whereas Centre for Media Studies report states that total expenditure of 2024 general election was 1.35 lakh crore (Business Standard, 26 April 2024). Which means expenditure by political parties is much higher than the expenditure by EC. Former Secretary General of Lok Sabha P.D.T. Achary writes in The Hindu, amount of money spent by political parties is not going to be spent on developmental works.
The last budget before 2024 general election allotted ₹1891.8 crore with additional demand for grant of ₹611.27 crore for the maintenance of EVMs (Business Standard, 19 April 2024). This amount shall rise in simultaneous elections for 4 more requirements of EVMs. Model Code of Conduct (MCC) restricts governments from declaring new developmental schemes to ensure free and fair elections.
But it doesn’t restrict the already existing works. MCC implemented in a respective state for state assembly election doesn’t bother development of an other state. If midterm elections occur then the process would be very similar with the current situation. Nonetheless if governments survive for full term then it will definitely lower the administrative engagement in elections, occupation of educational institutions, frequent displacement of security personnel etc.
One of the prominent issues with ONOE is voter’s inability to vote differently for centre and state during simultaneous elections. In 2014 and 2019 voters of Odisha elected Biju Janata Dal for both centre and state. In 2024 BJP was preferred for both centre and state in Odisha. Similarly in Haryana, voters have elected the same party for both centre and state during elections held simultaneously for centre and state since 2004.
There are lots of instances also where voters have elected different parties for centre and states during elections in the same year. But professor in University of Massachusetts Dolly Daftary observes the samras village panchayats in Gujrat during 2002 and 2006 where sarpanches echoed working of leaders at the highest level through clientelism.
The most optimistic viewpoint regarding simultaneous election is it provides a wide playing field for a large number of party workers. But it also limits the campaigning of simultaneous elections only to the impactful national leaders where emergence of new faces gets restricted.
HLC Report states example of South Africa, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Indonesia and Philippines as successful countries to maintain simultaneous elections but as compared to India these countries have very less population diversity and size. In countries like China, which also has a large population like India, simultaneous direct election can only be made possible through one party authoritarian system.
A multi party democracy would never be cheap during simultaneous elections also until and unless political parties restrict themselves from seeking support of common people through money and other short term benefits.
Works cited:
Achary, P.D.T. “The misplace move of ‘one nation one election’.” The Hindu. 26 September 2024. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-misplaced-move-of-one-nation-oneelection/article68682803.ece
Arora, Balveer et al. “Indian Federalism.” Political Science: Indian Democracy, vol. 2, pp. 100-162. Oxford University Press. 2013. https://www.academia.edu/2634367/Balveer_Arora_K_K_Kailash_Rekha_Saxena_and_H_Kham_Khan_S uan_Indian_federalism_in_K_C_Suri_and_Achin_Vanaik_eds_Political_Science_Indian_democracy_Vol_ 2_New_Delhi_Oxford_University_Press_2013_pp_100_60
Daftary, Dolly. “A blatant quest to consolidate power.” The Hindu. 2 July 2019. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/a-blatant-quest-to-consolidate-power/article28253597.ece
Haqqi, S. A. H. “POSITION OF THE STATES UNDER THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION.” The Indian Journal of Political Science, vol. 22, no. 1/2, 1961, pp. 43–52. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41853869. Accessed 6 Oct. 2024.
Kothari, Rajni. “The Congress ‘System’ in India.” Asian Survey, vol. 4, no. 12, 1964, pp. 1161–73. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2642550. Accessed 6 Oct. 2024.
Kovind, Ram Nath et al. Hight Level Committee Report On Simultaneous Elections In India.2024. https://onoe.gov.in/HLC-Report-en
Press Trust of India. “2024 LS polls, costliest ever, expenditure may touch Rs 1.35 trn: Report: The Election Commission’s budget to manage the polls is expected to be 10-15 per cent of the total expenditure projection.” Business Standard. 26 April, 2024. https://www.business-standard.com/elections/lok-sabhaelection/2024-ls-polls-costliest-ever-expenditure-may-touch-rs-1-35-trn-report-124042500633_1.html
S. R. Bommai vs. Union of India. Supreme Court of India. 11 March, 1994. 6
Singh, Nandini. “Lok Sabha election 2024: How much does it cost to hold elections in India?” Business Standard. 19 April,2024. https://www.business-standard.com/elections/lok-sabha-election/lok-sabha-election-2024- how-much-does-it-cost-to-hold-elections-in-india-124041900352_1.html
Wheare, K. C. Federal Governmement. Oxford University Press. 1963.
Monoj Kumar Boruah, Student, (MA Political Science & International Relations, Banaras Hindu University) e-mail: manujboruah572@gmail.com
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