One-shot polls

Contrary to the forecasts of the colonial doomsayers, who were reluctant to leave India free, democracy in our country has moved from strength to strength. Elections have become carnivals to be celebrated from time to time. But over the years and for various reasons, the nation has come to be too preoccupied with too many elections every year — for panchayats, urban local bodies, state legislature and the Lok Sabha. It is imperative to consider whether there could be an orderly celebration of our democratic fervour.

Election fervour set in with the announcement of polls schedule on March 9 by the Election Commission. Assembly elections will be held between April 4 and May 16 in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, West Bengal and Assam, with counting of votes on May 19. It’ll take about three months for these to conclude.

Tenures of the Assemblies of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa will expire between March and May next year, calling for another round of polls. Another seven states have to go to polls between January and December 2018. Another 11 states have to re-elect Assemblies between January and November 2019. By then Delhi will be ready to vote, in 2020, and Bihar the next year. In between, elections for the 17th Lok Sabha and four Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim will be due sometime during March-May 2019. We are in election mode all the time.

No doubt, democracy comes with a price. But what’s the price here The inevitable model code of conduct, bringing to a grinding halt development for about three months for each round of election, adjunct governance deficit, huge expenditure for organising each election besides parties and candidates spending huge monies, often questionably, to allure the voters, huge manpower including Central, paramilitary and armed forces being deployed for election duties, disruption of normal life, sound pollution etc. Poll-inspired political bitterness and conflicts adversely affecting law making by Parliament is another fallout of this preoccupation with polls.

With an eye on polls happening somewhere or the other, governments and parties in power shy away from taking hard decisions, including necessary reforms and actions even in states not going to polls. Clearing of encroachments of urban spaces, including removal of obstructions to natural drains, is one such example. As a result, long-term considerations become a casualty of narrow political gains.

The EC, as early as 1983, urged that the stage has come for doing the needful to hold simultaneous elections to the House of People and Legislative Assemblies of the states. The EC, last year, went a step further when it suggested a plan of action for doing so to the standing committee on personnel, public grievances, law and justice, which examined the issue of simultaneous polls in the country.

In the meantime, the Law Commission of India, headed by the renowned Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy, in its 170th Report on Reform of Electoral Laws clearly articulated the need for simultaneous elections given the cost of continuous election cycles. It also noted that if all political parties co-operate, necessary steps could be taken in this regard by adjusting Assembly elections to be held along with the general election.

Simultaneous elections were the order of the day in the country between 1952 and 1967. But it got disturbed with the advancement of polls to the fourth Lok Sabha from 1972 to 1971 and premature elections to some state Assemblies in 1968 and 1969 on account of coalition politics. Disturbance caused then is taking a huge toll in terms of time and energies of the people and the state machinery.

In South Africa, elections to the national and provincial legislatures are held together every five years and for municipal bodies two years later. In Sweden, elections for national (Riksdag), provincial (Landsting) and local bodies (Kommunfullmaktige) are invariably held on the second Sunday of September every four years. The United Kingdom has come out with Fixed-Term Parliament Act, 2011, for holding elections to Parliament on a pre-determined date to lend stability.

The Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on personnel, public grievances, law and justice examined the issue of simultaneous polls in great detail and submitted a report in December 2015. About 20 political parties conveyed their views, as did several other stakeholders. The overwhelming opinion was in favour of simultaneous polls though some raised the issue of feasibility.

The committee did opine that it can’t be done overnight but a solution needs to be found. It urged, “ in the larger context of economic development and implementation of election promises without creation of the impediments due to enforcement of model code of conduct as a result of frequent elections, the prospects of holding simultaneous elections need to be weighed and deeply considered by all political parties. This report seeks to open up debate on this important issue and try to establish national consensus to avoid frequent elections”.

During my interactions with leaders of various political parties, I have found significant resonance in favour of simultaneous polls. With elections for 30 legislative Assemblies and the Lok Sabha staggered over different dates and given the geographic diversity, holding simultaneous elections is a challenging task. But the costs of staggered polls are too high to ignore the strong case for minimising the frequency of elections. If there is a will, there is a way. The nation has to make up its mind in light of the experience of too many elections. Democracy is all about debate. Various committees and the EC have given some concrete suggestions to enable simultaneous polls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent suggestion to give this idea a serious consideration should be seen in this perspective. So, let us debate and decide.

The writer is minister for parliamentary affairs, Government of India