The desirability of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas has been discussed at various levels. A considered view is that simultaneous elections will ...
The desirability of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas has been discussed at various levels. A considered view is that simultaneous elections will not only keep alive the enthusiasm of voters, but will also result in huge savings to the public exchequer as well as avoiding repetition of administrative effort. It is also expected to control the expenses of political parties. Simultaneous elections will also avoid repeated enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct which affects administrative actions by the government.
President of India, His Excellency Shri Pranab Mukherjee has also expressed his views on the desirability of holding simultaneous elections. Speaking at a recent function, The President said that “With some election or the other throughout the year, normal activities of the government come to a standstill because of code of conduct. This is an idea the political leadership should think of. If political parties collectively think, we can change it.... The Election Commission can also put in their idea and efforts on holding the polls together and that will be highly beneficial”
Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has spoken several times on considering the feasibility of holding simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly elections. In two recent TV discussions, the Prime Minister reiterated this idea and invited a national debate on the issue.
Debate on the Issue - A Brief History
In India, simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha (House of The People) and Vidhan Sabhas (State Legislative Assemblies) were organized in the years 1951-52, 1957, 1962 and 1967. Thereafter, however, the schedule could not be maintained and the elections to the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabhas have still not been realigned.
The next General Election to the Lok Sabha is scheduled for 2019. Elections for the Vidhan Sabhas of 5 States are scheduled for 2017, for 13 States in 2018, for 9 States in 2019, for 1 State 2020 and the remaining are scheduled for 2021.
The issue of simultaneous elections was debated by the Law Commission in its 107thReport in 1999 (Reform of Electoral Laws) , where in it was mentioned that – “The rule ought to be one election once in five years for Lok Sabha and all Legislative Assemblies” ( Para 7.2.1.1 of the Report). Recently, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice presented its 79th Report on ‘Feasibility of holding Simultaneous Elections to the House of People (Lok Sabha) and State Legislative Assemblies’ on 17th December 2015.
Several structural changes will need to be done in case a decision is made to conduct simultaneous election, including possibility of Constitutional amendments to Articles 83, 172, 85 and 174 to streamline the process.
Seventy Ninth Report Parliamentary Standing Committee for PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES, LAW AND JUSTICEMyGov Discussion
MyGov invites citizens, Parliamentarians, Members of Legislative assemblies and councils, constitutional experts, academics experts, bureaucrats, social media influencers, Think Tanks and all other interested people to give their considered view on the subject. The issues that can be considered while formulating a view are (only an indicative list and not exhaustive):
1. Is it desirable to hold simultaneous elections? What are the pros and cons?
2. If simultaneous elections are held, then for the first time what happens to assemblies whose scheduled tenure either ends before or after the proposed date of holding elections?
3. Should the term of Lok Sabha and assemblies be fixed?
4. What would happen in case by-elections are necessitated in between terms?
5. What happens in case the ruling party or coalition loses majority in between term, either in Lok Sabha or in State assemblies?
You may submit your opinion by either writing in the comment box below, or by attaching a PDF document, or through a Youtube video.
The last for submitting your opinion is 15th October, 2016.
State Assemblies approaching simultaneous elections should be dissolved on completion of 2-1/2 years on the date of declaration of simultaneous elections and those assemblies with less than 2-1/2 years allowed to continue. The entire thing will be covered in two to three cycles and all assemblies will fall in line with simultaneous elections. Every thing to be done should be specifically mentioned in amendments to the Constitution.
An excellent idea by PM which must come to fruition.
yes,there should be simultaneous elections for loksabha,state assembly and local bodies. whosoever wins has to work for 5 years and after 5 years the people shall judge the performance and vote accordingly.there shall be no excuse for any party for non performance and accoutability shall be established.
Time and money both are crucial part of one's life and this idea seems to save it.
I also believe, there should be discontinuation on rallies, paper wastage on election time which will save human, natural resources etc. This campaigning part can be easily done by social/digital media or by creating election channels on youtube or creating elections poll website and uploading related videos/ documents of related candidates online. This can be very transparent process of selecting candidate!
It is better to conduct both the elections of MPs and MLAs at a time. This shall save the huge money of govt.and of political parties. This will also save the time of govt. officials and staff and police and political leaders in power for other important issues of development and of national interests. But enough no. of police staff and other govt. staff are required to conduct the elections at a time.
This really saves lot of money and efforts. Challenge is how do we sync current tenures and maintain the same going forward. No current government/opposition will accept to decrease/increase tenure to allow sync. And we will not have control on synching year after year. If we really want this type then there should be no central elections at all. Citizens elect state members and these state members should select central members.
