Simultaneous Elections- Re-structuring Elections
This is a current topic coming these days from the government. We
had been discussing this few days and here's what we came to know about it. We
also gave a presentation regarding this topic and got to know what we had left.
Actually simultaneous elections are a not very new concept to
India. After its Independence the four consecutive elections of Central &
State were conducted simultaneously till 1967. After that due to some political
circumstances this rule was broken and the gap between the elections of Central
and that of each state got widened. Hence now there are elections almost every
year for some or the other state. For e.g. The central elections were held in
2014, for some states in 2015, for some 2016 and for some yet to be done. This
has a series of effects on our development programs & even our daily lives.
So the government is planning for Simultaneous Elections.
What are Simultaneous
Elections?
Conducting
elections for Central i.e Lok Sabha & State i.e state legislative
assemblies governments at a time throughout the country can be a broad
definition for Simultaneous Elections. This also means that the Prime Minister
of the country & Chief Ministers of respective states will be elected in
the same yr and their elections would be conducted at a time. Now there are
many substantial advantages and as always many disadvantages too.
Why Simultaneous Elections
now?
Now a days India
is fast moving towards becoming a global superpower. This cannot take place
until it solves most of its internal problems.Distributed elections is one of
the many deep nurtured problem. Former Chief Elections Commissioner S.Y Qureshi
has also said,"Elections have become the root cause of Corruption.
Politicians 'invest' their money contesting elections and when they get
elected, they try to 'recover their spent money and that is where corruption
begins." Simultaneous elections can help in bringing down corruption
level, though not completely ending it up.The internal problems are been tried
to solve one by one if we see the history- first Surgical Strike then
Demonetization, then GST and now this can be the next problem in Mr. Modi's
agenda. If we are successful clearing these internal problems no one can stop
from progressing leaps & bounds.
Some of the Advantages & Disadvantages at a glance
Advantages-
Expenditure-
According to the 36 pages
discussion paper released by NITI Aayog it is said that expected amount
of almost 4500 crores will be needed if Simultaneous Elections are to be
conducted. On the other side conducting separate elections costed 3870 crores
just for 2014 lok sabha elections and for each of the state assemblies
respectively. So there will be a massive save in the public expenditure.
Normal Life-
Due to frequent elections the
normal life of the public is affected. Schools are to be taken over for
conducting elections and schools are to be closed for the same. Roadshows for
publicity, publicity rallies also affect their lives.
Imposition of MCC(Model Code of
Conduct)
The Model Code Conduct is a set
of Do's & Don't's for the political Parties released by the EC. Due to this
all the development projects and various activities of the ruling parties
government are to be put on hold for a certain period after & before
elections.Thus as much the elections the more delay in the development schemes
and increase in the cost of public expenditure.If Simultaneous elections take
place the duration of MCC will be reduced considerably and there will be a
period of full-fledged 4 and half yrs for development schemes.
Security Forces-
For every elections there
are security forces to be provide with the voting machines.The forces mostly
constitute the CAPF (Central Armed Police Forces) and the SRPF's (State Reserve
Police Forces). So continue elections engage these forces and if by chance any
problem regarding security takes place they might be stretched.So if elections
are held simultaneously they will be called for elections once & for all.
Disadvantages-
Political consensus-
This issue will have to be looked upon by every ruling politician
may be of any party with a positive outcome and a major issue in India's future
keeping their political interests apart.This consensus is a major challenge as
we seen for that of implementing GST which took almost 10yrs. Lets hope
simultaneous elections implementation process do not take a huge span. Moreover
for starting the Simultaneous Elections some of the governments will have to
shrink their period in the ruling party and contest elections. If they agree to
do so their sacrifice for India's bright future will be remembered by every
Indian for yrs.For some assemblies they will get extended duration for
ruling.
Constitutional provisions-
According to current laws especially
Articles 83 & 85 give the right for the ruling party to complete its tenure
of 5 yrs. So first we will have to bring changes in the constitution
accordingly. Bringing amendments in the constitution will be a long process. So
taking this issue into limelight as soon as possible is the solution according
to me.
Pre-
dissolution of assemblies-
Now this is the issue
after simultaneous elections are been held. If any of state assembly party or
Central party fail's to get a majority and is not able to form a government
then in such cases should there be a Presidential Rule ? or an alternative. What is the most
appropriate solution to this problem? The discussions regarding are going on
hope we find a answer. One of the possible option for this to take re-elections
for that particular State or only for Central Govt. But again the issue of
funds will begin and the expenditure will come to that of which is now going
on.
Conclusion-
According to me the concept of simultaneous elections is very very
beneficial & promising at its core. This would benefit largely to India & Indians.. But
on the other side the disadvantages are too serious and time- consuming and so
acting on them as soon as possible can be a plus point. There are many facts and information which I have not mentioned above but this what I have presented is according to my point of view.
I personally believe Simultaneous Elections are of course positive & promising and if we can successfully implement the complex process of GST then definitely bringing in this mode of elections is not so difficult for 1.30 billion+ people.
The above information is right to the best of my knowledge, any controversies please ignore