One country one election: It can be implemented provided…former election commissioner tells how

New Delhi: One country one election… a debate has started in the country about this. The ruling party, the opposition and many others are debating on this. The Modi cabinet recently approved the recommendations of the Kovind panel on One Nation-One Election. With this, a debate has started on the desire to conduct simultaneous elections, its practicality and how it will be implemented. First of all, let us tell you that in the last five years, thirty elections have been held for the state assemblies, i.e. an average of six elections every year.On average, there are six elections each year
If we add to this the elections to 4,000 municipalities and the three-tier elections to over 2.50 lakh panchayats, it would not be wrong to say that we are always in an election environment. We need both democracy and governance. To that extent, the objective is certainly laudable. However, there may be differences on the method to achieve it.

The period of election code of conduct cannot be reduced to less than 45 days now because the time limit is fixed in the law. If an average of six elections are held every year, development work in all those six states comes to a halt for at least 45 days. During the Constituent Assembly debates, Dr. Ambedkar had suggested that the Election Commission should not be independently staffed, but could take the help of government staff during elections.

Crores of rupees are spent in updating the voter list
According to this suggestion, at the time of elections, all booth level officers, polling and counting staff, supervisors and field staff, who are employees of the central and state governments, are sent from their departments for the elections. Interestingly, in 1966, as no mid-term elections were held during that period, the Election Commission had come to the conclusion that revising the voter list every year was a waste of time.

But again, currently we have voter lists being updated every year for three months involving lakhs of field staff and spending crores of rupees. The Election Commission had recommended simultaneous elections in 1983 itself and reiterated it in 2015. The Law Commission had discussed the feasibility of the proposal and its strategy with the Election Commission in March 2023.

What is needed for simultaneous elections
At present, there are about 12 lakh polling stations. If simultaneous elections are held, an additional EVM will be required at each polling station, which means at least 12 lakh EVMs and an additional expenditure of about Rs 8,000 crore. The EVMs to be used in the local body elections will be assessed by the respective State Election Commissions in consultation with the Election Commission of India (ECI). Manufacturing these additional EVMs may take a few years. Also, there will be a slight increase in staff and security.

The ECI has successfully conducted simultaneous elections four times in the past, the last being in 1967, when it held simultaneous elections for 520 parliamentary and 3,563 assembly constituencies. There should be no problem in including local body elections as the district machinery working at the ground level in both elections is the same. Even today, many state election commissions use the voter lists prepared by the Election Commission.

There is a need to build consensus
There may be apprehensions in some quarters about holding simultaneous elections. Regional parties may feel that since all parties will campaign simultaneously for both national and state elections, the focus of election debates may shift from state-specific issues to national concerns. As a result, national parties may dominate the electoral landscape, reducing the political relevance of regional issues during state elections. The proposal of a common voter list may also give rise to some federal concerns.

There may be some ideas on the method suggested in the plan for conducting local body elections. In all such matters, there is never a one size fits all approach. The beauty of democracy is that all issues are resolved through discussion and dialogue. The Kovind committee has put this issue up for public debate. It is the job of our lawmakers to discuss and debate all these issues and build a national consensus on these reforms.
(The author is a former Election Commissioner)