Reality check

Reality check

News:

1. Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat ruled out the possibility of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies this year along with polls to the Assemblies of four States.

Important facts:

2. Four states includes:

• Mizoram is due for elections in December, as the term of the Assembly ends on December 15.
• Mizoram is followed by Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

3. Reasons:

• Simultaneous polls pose too big a legal and logistical challenge to be implemented now.
• Simultaneous elections would demand a massive increase in the number of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) units.
• Ensuring the VVPATs everywhere poses a logistical challenge.
• Altering the term of an Assembly needs an amendment to the Constitution.
• Simultaneous elections will require the use of 24 lakh EVMs, needing the procurement of 12 lakh EVMs and an equal number of VVPAT units.
• These figures ought to give pause to the clamour to hold simultaneous Assembly elections with the next Lok Sabha polls.

4. The BJP President Amit shah has written to the Law Commission favouring simultaneous polls.

5. The arguments in favour of the concept :

• The country is perpetually in election mode, resulting in a lack of adequate focus on governance.
• The scattered polling results in extra expenditure.

6. Way ahead:

• Wide political consensus, as well as legislative cooperation from various parties at the Centre and in the States, is required for holding simultaneous elections.
• It would be more productive for political parties to focus on basic electoral reforms and find ways to curb excessive election expenditure.