What is ‘One Country One Election’?
First of all, do you know what is the meaning of ‘one country one election’? There are many types of elections in the country, panchayat elections, municipal elections, Lok Sabha elections, assembly elections… So does it mean that there will be only one election in the country? Only Lok Sabha elections will be held and all other elections will be abolished? It’s not like that. The exercise of ‘One Nation One Election’ is to hold Lok Sabha and state assembly elections together. At present, Lok Sabha elections and state assembly elections are held at different times. If the government completes the term of 5 years, then elections are held on time and if the government is unable to complete the term in any state, then mid-term elections are held. Election season continues throughout the year somewhere in the country. If elections are held together, then the expenditure incurred on conducting them separately will be saved.
Till 1967, Lok Sabha and state assembly elections were held simultaneously.
When the country became independent, elections were held for the first time in 1952. Then simultaneous elections were held for the Lok Sabha as well as the Legislative Assemblies of all the states. Almost the same thing happened in 1957. Then, due to the reorganization of the states i.e. formation of new states, 76 percent of the state elections were held along with the Lok Sabha elections. But this cycle of one election went awry for the first time when in 1959, the then Jawaharlal Nehru government at the Center used Article 356 for the first time to dismiss the communist government of Kerala. In 1957, the Left won Kerala and E.M.S. Namboodiripad became the Chief Minister. But after his government was dismissed in July 1959, assembly elections were again held in Kerala in February 1960. This was the first case of mid-term elections in any state in the country. Only after this the sequence of simultaneous elections was broken but broadly the trend of ‘One Nation One Election’ continued till 1967. In 1962 and 1967, 67 percent of the state assembly elections were held along with the Lok Sabha elections. But this trend almost completely broke by 1970. In 1970, even the Lok Sabha was dissolved prematurely and elections had to be held in 1971. In this way, after 1971, elections for Lok Sabha and state assemblies started being held separately.
In the 1967 elections, Congress suffered setbacks in states like UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal, Odisha and Madras. In many places, Congress rebels formed governments with other parties. Many such coalition governments fell even before completing 5 years in office. Due to which the order of ‘one country one election’ got spoiled.
In the 80s, efforts were made again for ‘one country one election’
About four decades ago, the issue of simultaneous elections gained momentum again. In 1983, the Election Commission suggested that along with the Lok Sabha, assembly elections should also be held for the states. However, the then government did not pay any heed to the suggestion of the Election Commission, due to which the matter went into cold storage. The issue resurfaced in 1999 when the Law Commission insisted on holding simultaneous elections. Justice B. The Law Commission, headed by P. Jeevan Reddy, recommended simultaneous elections in its 170th report in May 1999. The Law Commission said that we should hold simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and all the Assemblies. The Law Commission also suggested a formula for this that if a no-confidence motion is brought against any government, then along with it a confidence motion should also be brought for the alternative government. That means, in a way, there was talk of fixed tenure for the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies.
There was almost an agreement between Atal Bihar Vajpayee and Sonia Gandhi but…
In 2003, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also discussed with the then Congress President Sonia Gandhi regarding the recommendations of the Law Commission. Initially, the Congress leader also showed enthusiasm about it. It seemed that a political consensus could be reached on holding simultaneous elections but this did not happen and this issue came up again. In 2004, the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh came to power. There was no discussion of this issue during his first term. However, in 2010, BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani once again raised the issue of simultaneous elections. He also discussed this matter with the then PM Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Advani advocated fixed-term tenure of 5 years for the Lok Sabha and Assemblies. But it didn’t work out.
After the Modi government came in 2014, the exercise started again.
In 2015, a parliamentary committee in its report talked about holding simultaneous elections. The Parliamentary Committee headed by E. M. Sudarshana Natchiappan submitted its report on the possibility of holding simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The report supported the spirit of ‘one country one election’ and said that this would reduce the expenditure on repeated elections, due to the implementation of the repeated election code of conduct, which was a kind of policy for some time. A situation of paralysis arises, it will end. The burden of deployment of manpower during elections will also be reduced. But the Congress rejected it as impractical. Interestingly, the chairman of the parliamentary committee, E.M. Sudarshana Natchiappan was a Rajya Sabha MP from Congress. TMC also called this idea unconstitutional. CPI, NCP also said – not possible.
In 2017, the then President Pranab Mukherjee while addressing a joint session of Parliament referred to the negative effects of frequent elections. In January 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi indicated that a study should be done to explore the possibility of holding simultaneous elections. Three months later, in April 2017, Modi again emphasized this point in the NITI Aayog meeting with the Chief Ministers. In the same year, NITI Aayog issued a paper stressing on holding simultaneous elections. Bibek Debroy and Kishore Desai said in the paper that separate elections cost a lot. Holding simultaneous elections can reduce this significantly. NITI Aayog explained in detail in its paper why simultaneous elections are necessary and how it can be possible.
In 2018, once again the Law Commission advocated for simultaneous elections. Justice B. S. The Law Commission, headed by Chouhan, in its draft report on August 30, 2018, recommended that assembly elections in all the states to be held in a calendar year should be held simultaneously. The Law Commission told that many changes will have to be made in the constitution to hold elections to the Lok Sabha and all the states simultaneously. Changes will have to be made in the Representation of the People Act 1951, necessary changes will have to be made in the rules and procedures related to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The Law Commission also recommended that a no-confidence motion should lead to the fall of the government only if a confidence motion is passed for an alternative government.
When in 2019 the matter remained in the making
At one time before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it seemed that the concept of ‘one country one election’ would be implemented. An atmosphere was created in 2018 following the recommendations of the Law Commission. The Modi government tried to build consensus to make ‘one country one law’ possible. The Law Commission had suggested that assembly elections of 12 states should also be held along with the elections for the 17th Lok Sabha. Elections were to be held in a total of 12 states in 2018 and 2019 – Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim, Telangana, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan. There was talk of holding elections for the Legislative Assemblies of all these states along with the Lok Sabha. Then there were many reports that this could be possible but it did not work out. Modi government has once again intensified efforts for ‘one country one election’. Now a committee has been formed under the chairmanship of former President Kovind to explore its possibilities.