{"id":52640,"date":"2019-09-27T17:50:01","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T12:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?page_id=52640"},"modified":"2019-09-27T17:50:08","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T12:20:08","slug":"answered-examine-whether-simultaneous-elections-are-better-than-frequent-elections-discuss-what-are-various-challenges-for-conducting-simultaneous-elections-in-india","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-examine-whether-simultaneous-elections-are-better-than-frequent-elections-discuss-what-are-various-challenges-for-conducting-simultaneous-elections-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"[Answered] Examine whether simultaneous elections are better than frequent elections? Discuss what are various challenges for conducting simultaneous elections in India."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Demand of the question<\/strong>
Introduction. <\/strong>Contextual Introduction.
Body. <\/strong>Need and benefits if simultaneous elections. Various roadblocks to simultaneous elections.
Conclusion. <\/strong>Way forward. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

The Constitution of India has vested in the Election Commission of India the superintendence, direction and control of the entire process for conduct of elections to Parliament and Legislature of every State and to the offices of President and Vice-President of India. However, frequent elections (for state and Centre), hamper long-term policymaking. Simultaneous elections are seen as solution to this with multiple benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do we need\nsimultaneous election and how it is better?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Frequent elections: <\/strong>There are frequent\nelections in one or more states and if the elections to the local bodies are\nincluded there is no year without some elections taking place. Frequent\nelections divert precious time, energy and resources of the nation.<\/li>
  2. Governance and consistency:<\/strong> Elections in\nstates lead to the imposition of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) puts on hold the\nentire development programme and activities. If all elections are held in one\nparticular year, it will give a clear four years to the political parties to\nfocus on good governance. Simultaneous elections allow them to use precious\ntime for social work and to take people-oriented programmes to the grassroots.\nIt will help to overcome the \u201cpolicy paralysis and governance deficit\u201d\nassociated with imposition of the Model Code of Conduct at election time which\nleads to putting on hold all developmental activities on that area and also\naffects the bureaucracy\u2019s functioning.<\/li>
  3. Slowdown development:<\/strong> With multiple\nelections in the country, the Model Code of Conduct is in force for much of the\ntime, which prevents the government from initiating new projects and ultimately\nslows down development work. It affects stability and economic development as\nannouncements are more for the vote bank than the development of nation.<\/li>
  4. Economical:<\/strong> Expenditure can be reduced by\nconducting simultaneous elections. Simultaneous elections allow lesser amount\nto be spent on resources. It would reduce the massive expenditure that has been\npegged at around Rs.4,500 crore. Thus it will save country\u2019s resources.<\/li>
  5. Continuity in economy: <\/strong>Continuous\nelection has an impact on the functioning of essential services. Simultaneous\nelections will limit the disruption to normal public life associated with\nelections. The rallies and issues like traffic problems as well as loss of\nproductivity can be reduced.<\/li>
  6. Reduced manpower: <\/strong>Also simultaneous\nelection would reduce the type of manpower and resource deployment necessary\nfor the conduct of elections. It is felt that crucial manpower is often\ndeployed on election duties for a prolonged period of time. If simultaneous\nelections are held, then this manpower would be made available for other\nimportant tasks. For instance for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, which was held along\nwith 4 state assemblies saw the deployment of 1077 in situ companies and 1349\nmobile companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF).<\/li>
  7. Peace in society:<\/strong> During frequent\nelections there is increase in communalism, casteism, corruption and crony\ncapitalism. Simultaneous elections will reduce such incidents and will ensure\nprevailed peace in society maintaining social fabric.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    What are the\nissues in implementing simultaneous polls?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Confused voter:<\/strong> Not all voters are highly\neducated to know who to vote for. They may get confused and may not know\nwhether they are voting for candidates contesting assembly or parliament\nelections. There is a 77% chance that the Indian voter will vote for the same\nparty for both the state and centre, when elections are held simultaneously.\nEvidence from Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Germany, the US and Europe supports\nthe idea that elections that are held simultaneously produce greater alignment\nbetween national and regional election outcomes.<\/li>
    2. Lack of manpower: <\/strong>There is a dearth of\nenough security and administrative officials to conduct simultaneous free and\nfair elections throughout the country in one go. Also it will require more\nmanpower on a single day to ensure free and fair elections.<\/li>
    3. Against multi party democracy: <\/strong>India is a\nmulti-party democracy where elections are held for State Assemblies and the Lok\nSabha separately; the voters are better placed to express their voting choices\nkeeping in mind the two different governments which they would be electing by\nexercising their franchise. This distinction gets blurred somewhat when voters\nare made to vote for electing two types of government at the same time, at the\nsame polling booth, and on the same day. There is a tendency among the voters\nto vote for the same party both for electing the State government as well as\nthe Central government. This is a rule rather than an exception, not based on\nassumption but on evidence.<\/li>
    4. Anti-federal: <\/strong>Assembly elections are\nfought on local issues and, in the true spirit of federalism, parties and\nleaders are judged in the context of their work done in the state. Clubbing\nthem with the general election could lead to a situation where the national\nnarrative submerges the regional story. This could mean a regress for the\nfederal character of the polity, which is best avoided.<\/li>
    5. Consensus among political parties:<\/strong> The\nbiggest challenge to simultaneous polls lies in getting the party political\nconsensus needed to bring an amendment in the law. Achieving an all party\nconsensus is not easy.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      What is the way\nforward?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1. Standing committee recommended a cycle of\nelections, according to which elections to some legislative assemblies whose\nterm end within six months to one year before or after the election date could\nbe held during the midterm of Lok Sabha .For the rest of the states, elections\ncould be held along with the general elections to Lok Sabha.<\/li>
      2. Cost can be brought under control by ensuring\nthat the legal cap on expenditure of candidates is followed by all parties.<\/li>
      3. Accomplishing one year one election will be\neasier as it doesn\u2019t require as many legal amendments as simultaneous polls for\nwhich the Centre will have to make five amendments to the Constitution.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Simultaneous elections has many advantages and prospects of holding simultaneous elections must be analysed deeply. It can save exchequer and critical time of state and citizens. All the issues need to be studied in detail before commencing any decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Demand of the question Introduction. Contextual Introduction. Body. Need and benefits if simultaneous elections. Various roadblocks to simultaneous elections. Conclusion. Way forward. The Constitution of India has vested in the Election Commission of India the superintendence, direction and control of the entire process for conduct of elections to Parliament and Legislature of every State and… Continue reading [Answered] Examine whether simultaneous elections are better than frequent elections? Discuss what are various challenges for conducting simultaneous elections in India.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":49132,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-52640","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/52640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/52640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}