Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV.
The committee formed under the chairmanship of former President Ramnath Kovind to consider the issue of ‘one country, one election’ submitted its report to President Draupadi Murmu on Thursday. This 18,626-page report has been prepared after 191 days of talks with political party leaders, experts and civil society people. The committee has recommended holding all the elections in the country simultaneously. The committee has suggested dividing the election process into two phases – in the first phase, Lok Sabha and Assembly elections should be held simultaneously in all the states of the country, after this, in the second phase, elections for local bodies i.e. Panchayats and Municipal Corporations, Municipalities should be held. . Elections for both phases should be held within 100 days. The committee says that the same voter list and voter ID should be used in all elections. This will save time, resources and expenses.
This question will arise in the minds of many people that what will happen if the government in the country or any state falls prematurely? In response to this, the committee said that if there is a need for mid-term elections, then they should not be held for five years. Elections should be held only for the remaining term of the Lok Sabha or Assembly, so that there will be no impact on the cycle of holding simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the country. Presently the same formula is adopted in the by-elections for Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha and Assembly seats. Although the committee had sought opinions from 62 political parties of the country, but 47 parties sent their replies. Of these, 32 parties supported the move while 15 parties opposed it. Only two of the six national parties – BJP and Conrad Sangma’s National People’s Party – supported it while four national parties – Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and CPI-M – are against it.
As soon as this report was submitted to the President, the first reaction came from AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi. Owaisi said the BJP wants a single-party system in the country, and the concept of one country, one election will prove to be the last nail in the coffin of the federal structure. Owaisi says that if elections are held in the country, then the parties remain accountable to the public at all times. If the tenure of the government is fixed at five years, then the party coming to power will be stress free for five years, this is dangerous for democracy. Congress reacted more sharply than Owaisi. Jairam Ramesh said that one nation, one election is just a show, Modi’s aim is One Nation, No Election and Modi is working on this agenda. The debate on one country, one election is not going on right now. Modi had suggested holding simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies in the country at least six years ago. Then last year a committee was formed on this issue.
I think this suggestion is good because elections are held in some state or the other throughout the year across the country. Now the Lok Sabha elections will be over, after three months there will be elections in 6 states. When those elections are over, elections will be announced in three states. After that, there will be elections in five states in 2026, then elections in six states the next year and assembly elections in ten states in 2028, a few months before the next Lok Sabha elections in 2029. Since election code of conduct is imposed all the time somewhere in the country, development work comes to a halt due to this. Election machinery remains active all the time, security forces have to be deployed, thousands of crores of rupees are spent.
If all the elections are held simultaneously, then lakhs of crores of rupees will be saved, time will be saved and these resources can be used for other purposes, but the goal of one country, one election does not seem easy at the moment because many amendments will have to be made in the Constitution. They will have to be passed in both houses of the Parliament. Then it will have to be passed by at least half the assemblies. This will be a very difficult task. Therefore, if this work is completed even by 2029, it will be a big thing. But there is nothing impossible in Modi’s style. That is why leaders of opposition parties are worried. They feel that if Modi has decided, then he will definitely complete this work too, like abolition of Article 370 and Citizenship Amendment Act.
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