The Union Government has constituted a committee under former President Ram Nath Kovind to assess the viability of the One Nation, One Election concept, which has become a hot topic before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.The committee is expected to work on the possibility of the One Nation, One Election legislation, and get a consensus from all parties to ensure the passage of the same. The committee comes after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi announced the convening of a special session of Parliament from September 18-22.#WATCH | On One nation, One election, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minsiter Pralhad Joshi says Right now, a committee has been constituted. A report of the committee will come out which be discussed. The Parliament is mature, and discussions will take place, there is no need to… pic.twitter.com/iITyAacPBq— ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2023What is One Nation, One ElectionThe concept of One Nation, One Election aims to coincide the elections for the Lok Sabha and the various state assemblies. In practice, this means that Lok Sabha elections will be held simultaneously with state assembly elections, either on the same day or within a specific time frame.One Nation, One Election is by no means a new concept, and it was the norm till 1967. However, the practice of simultaneous elections were changed after several legislative assemblies were dissolved prematurely in 1968 and 1969, and the Lok Sabha was also dissolved in 1970.Since then, the Election Commission of India in 1983 and the Law Commission in 1999 proposed to bring back the practice of simultaneous elections, but the Union Government rejected the proposals.However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed the One Nation, One Election idea in 2016, and since then, government think-tank Niti Aayog prepared a working paper on the proposal for simultaneous elections.To prepare the One Nation, One Election legislation, a constitutional amendment would be required, and that would require ratification by at least 50% of the states.What are the benefits of One Nation, One ElectionThose who are in favour of the One Nation, One Election concept highlight the pros of simultaneous elections, which are…* The most important benefit would be cutting down the cost of holding separate elections, which is entirely borne by the Government of India.As per a report by the Centre for Media Studies, the Election Commission of India (ECI) spent ₹10,000 crore in hosting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, which is more than double the amount spent in 2014. The total amount spent on the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, including from political parties, stands at a whopping ₹60,000 crore – making Indian elections the most expensive in the world.* Simultaneous elections would also save the governments time, as hosting elections require a large number of manpower from the ECI. A large number of administrative and security officials are required for each elections, and simultaneous elections would ease their burden.* Various media reports have highlighted that a single elections would mean that the governments would spend more time in governance work rather than winning elections.#WATCH | Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath on One Nation, One ElectionIt is a praiseworthy effort. On behalf of the people of UP, I express gratitude towards the PM for this. One nation, one election is the necessity of the day. During the process of elections, development… pic.twitter.com/pM6mYdSz3S— ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2023* As per a report by the Law Commission, simultaneous elections would presumably lead to a higher voter turnout, since people can cast multiple votes at once.What are the disadvantages of One Nation, One ElectionNot everyone agrees with the idea of simultaneous elections, and those against say…* The implementation of any One Nation, One Election legislation would not be smooth, since it would require a constitutional amendment. After the amendment, it would need to be taken to state assemblies to be ratified.* Changes would have to be made to five articles of the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, which would require assent from all the recognised state and national political parties.* There is a concern that national issues would end up trumping regional issues, which would benefit national-level parties while hurting the chances of regional parties. Not only would regional parties be marginalised because of national issues taking the front seat, they would also be unable to match the spending power of their national counterparts.A study conducted by the IDFC Institute in 2015 found that, in case of simultaneous elections, 77% of voters will vote for the same political party or alliance which is likely to win in both the state assembly and the Lok Sabha.* Simultaneous elections would have costs of its own – Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), which have a life span of 15 years, would only be used three times before being discarded. The Law Commission in its report said that if simultaneous elections were held in 2019, more than ₹4,500 crore would be spent on EVMs alone.
