One Nation One Election

ONE NATION ONE ELECTION

INTRODUCTION

Election is simple terms means that an act of casting votes to elect an individual for some definite type of position. They make a fundamental contribution to democratic governance, as it is a form of government in which political decisions are made directly by the full body of eligible citizens. Voting is our chance to help in choosing the people who we want to see run the country.

They may place their votes for some individuals or political parties. An individual is a person who wishes to stand for the election and is not chosen by a political party, wherein a political party is an organisation that seeks to influence, having control over governmental policies, usually by nominating candidates, campaigning through cities, trying to win elections & etc.

Also amongst all the different types of elections, there are 4 major elections in India which are Executive, Union Legislature, State Legislature & Elections to Local Bodies. But does having so many types of elections put a burden on the government exchequer?

QUOTE

“Vote for the man who promises the least, he’ll be disappointing the least.” – Bernard M. Baruch

“Leadership is not about the next election, it is about the next generation.” – Simon Sinek

“A politician thinks of the next election, a statesman, of the next generation. “ – James Clarke

STATISTICS – What Numbers have to Say?

• In the year 2014, Narendra Modi – BJP swept to power, winning 282 seats out of 543 seats in Lok Sabha, which had crossed the halfway mark of 272 seats. Wherein BJP became the first party to gain a majority on its own in 3 decades.

• About 90 CR. People had gained the eligibility to vote in the general elections in the year 2019, increasing about 9 CR more candidates compared to the year 2014.

• The idea of a simultaneous election was proposed in the annual report of 1983, even the Law commission report also referred to in 1999. A massive push came ahead in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls elections in the BJP manifesto.

• According to the Associations for Democratic Reforms data in 2017-18, 53% of a political party’s income came from unknown sources, 36% from known sources also adding to it 11% came from membership fees and asset sales.

DESCRIPTION – Let’s take a Deep Dive

The idea of “One Nation, One Election” is a reform that present central government is exploring. This concept calls for a single election for state legislative, Lok Sabha, Panchayat’s over a period of five years. The idea of single elections can take place on the same day every five years.

Correctly said by Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi “Once the voter enters the polling station, whether he votes for one election or two-three- it is the same thing.” The only problem that we would face that is we might need to increase the number of machines which also requires political consensus.

This idea is supposed to bring a major reform in the electoral system & functioning in one of the largest democracies in the world. However its adoption to the current system will be a bit difficult, but the main reason for drawing such strategies under effect is that heavy expenditure on elections, deployment of forces affecting their normal course of duties, slowing down of administrative machinery throughout the country etc.

GOOD SIDE

• Capital expenditure saved: – Conducting elections separately might cost the public exchequer hundreds of crore each time. A mainly huge chunk of money is spent on arrangements, salaries, securities & etc. Therefore holding only one election might lead to savings massive amount of funds.

• Reducing campaign-related work: – All the political parties spend huge sum of money on their campaigning in order to ensure that they have showered their magic enough into the minds of citizens.

• Better deployment of security forces: – Simultaneous elections should come into action as soon as possible because conducting frequent elections exercises the Indian police force to plan their diversion from the normal core service to the election-related activities.

BAD SIDE

• Expected Delay in the results: -Since elections will be conducted on a larger scale, right from capturing to the counting of votes, will be a tedious process to handle for the authorities, leading to delay in the expected results.

• The requirement of huge resources: – In a democratic society conducting simultaneous elections may involve usage of various resources such as EVM’s, personnel’s & etc. again putting a burden on the authorities.

• Fading out of small/local sites: – In the view of creating everything globally/looking into a bigger perspective it, it might overshadow the regional/local issues. So there might be a possibility that the local/small issues might fall on deaf ears despite being important.

CONCLUSION

Aggregating, we can say that, yes we may face challenges in future for implementing these changes which may have to be adapted to bring the required consistency for empowered federalism. We must not shy away from considering these much-needed reforms in our system. However, this is not just about elections but good governance because ballots are more powerful than bullets!

Thank you!

Author: Aman Gupta

Scrutiny: Riya Chandra

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