The Election Commission of India (EC) which credits itself of conducting elections in the largest democracy of the world must be wondering at its capabilities, its track record and the trust that the ruling party in India has reimposed in it. The recent blind faith that the ruling party BJP has shown toward “One Nation One Election” truly represents more of an aberration than a hallmark of the Election Commission of India. It’s an anomaly that may well demand re-examination.
As per the recommendation of the Ramnath Kovind Committee Report Parliament and state Assembly election should be held together while local bodies poll should be conducted in the second phase within 100 days. Election Commission of India which took more than 80 days—from March 16 to June 4—to complete elections for Parliament and four Assemblies in 2024 is expected to get the elections held for Parliament and various state assemblies simultaneously. Going by the track record, as displayed in last Parliament elections may take one full year to undertake the elections of Parliament and Assemblies.
Indians were expecting that the assembly elections for Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir; and Maharashtra would be held simultaneously in October. However, Chief Election Commissioner (CE) Rajiv Kumar rescued himself stating Maharashtra elections will be announced later due to security requirements for Jammu and Kashmir. “Last time, Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections were held together. At that time, J&K was not a factor but this time there are four elections this year and fifth election immediately after this. Depending on the requirement of forces, we have decided to conduct 2 elections together. The other factor is that there was heavy rainfall in Maharashtra and there are several festivals lined up too,” the poll panel chief had stated while announcing elections for the state of Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir.
The Election Commission which could not hold election for three Assemblies will now be entrusted with the responsibility of undertaking such an enormous exercise. Conducting poll of the Assemblies and Parliament together and local bodies in next hundred day, as proposed in the bill will demand much larger number of human resources and security personnel. In many states the local bodies elections are still marred by large-scale violence. There is hardly any state in India where simultaneous election for panchayat and municipal corporation or municipalities have been held.
All the developed democracies be it the United States, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, Canada, Israel etc have much more frequent election than India, yet nobody complains that polls come in the way of progress.
The task for the ruling party in India BJP is not going to be easy. It will need 18 Constitutional Amendments, some of them will have to be ratified by half of the states of India. The BJP and its allies may not be in power in half of them.
Certain likely impacts of this One Nation One Election- if ever implemented would be, the politicians after winning/losing the elections will not come back to the voters for next five years. Thus, the voters will become the neglected lot. The connect with the voters will be lost. The politicians specially from the ruling party will prefer inaugurating bridges, highways, railway station and other infrastructure projects a couple of months before the elections are likely to be scheduled.
For or against the frequent election, the common man in India is of the view that all the developmental works are undertaken keeping in mind the elections. If elections for all these three tiers of democracy are held once after every five years, it is generally feared that the governments will become less accountable and more authoritarian.