Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said the high-level panel on ‘One Nation, One Election’ must be dissolved and the entire idea abandoned for the sake of a “robust democracy”.
Before the Lok Sabha elections to be held in 2024, the debate on one nation, one election has started increasing rapidly in India. Mallikarjun Kharge, a prominent leader and president of the Indian National Congress, one of the major parties of the INDI Bloc, is totally against this one nation, one election. The statement that has come, said that One Nation One Election seems to break the idea of federalism in Indian democracy and for the sake of robust democracy.
Soon, Aam Aadmi Party has also made its stand clear on this subject and the party has written its views on its official letter pad and sent it to the One Nation One Election Committee in against to the momentum.One Nation One Election Committee has sought suggestions on this from the people and major opposition parties. Aam Aadmi Party has given its suggestion on this. The party has said that even though it sounds good, its real test lies in its implementation.
What is One Nation, One Election ?
Let us understand in simple words what is One Nation One Election. This is the idea of holding simultaneous elections which is a plan to hold the elections of Lok Sabha and State Assemblies simultaneously and within a fixed time. To find out the feasibility of this plan for this, the Central Government had constituted a panel under the chairmanship of former President Ramnath Kovind and this panel has been given the mandate to seek the views of the people of the country and the concerned opposition parties on this subject.
Advantages of One Nation One Election
If we talk about the benefits of One Nation One Election, then in August 2018, a draft report on simultaneous elections was prepared by the Law Commission of India, according to which it was said that the practice of One Nation One Election would save the public money of the country. Another advantage of this is that in this the stress on the country’s administrative system and security forces can be reduced and whatever resources the country spends on elections can be used to conduct successful elections. This can also be controlled to some extent. Timely implementation of government policies can also be correct and instead of election campaign, most of the governments can focus on development activities after its implementation, which will help in various aspects of the state. Administrative systems will also be improved after this.
Opposition view on One Nation One Election
In India, Lok Sabha elections are held every 5 years and if we talk about the Legislative Assembly, then elections for the Legislative Assembly of some state are held in the country approximately every 3 to 5 years, so in such a situation, if this proposal has been brought by the Central Government, then somewhere there is a ‘yes’ situation among the people but otherside the opposition does not seem to be happy with it.
Congress President Mallikarjun Khargone has expressed his disinterest to One Nation One Election and also said that it seems to be hurting the federalism system of India.On the other hand, Aam Aadmi Party has also made its stand clear, now Trinamool Congress, Mamata Banerjee’s party, Lalu Yadav’s RJD, Pawar’s NCP, and other state parties are left to present thier views on this proposal.
Election Commision on One Nation One Election
In 2022, the then Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra had said that the Election Commission is fully prepared. He had said that the Election Commission is capable of conducting simultaneous elections. However, he said that the Constitution needs to be changed to implement the idea and this should be decided in Parliament.
The ECI had estimated the cost of conducting the 2014 Lok Sabha elections with VVPAT machines to be about Rs 3,870 crore…. The argument that the cost of conducting elections is extremely high seems baseless. Considering elections are held once in 5 years, the expenses make up less than 0.02% of the total Union budget.
In December 2022, the Law Commission had sought views of stakeholders including national political parties, the Election Commission of India, bureaucrats, academicians and experts on the proposal to hold simultaneous elections in the country.
Mixed responses of people
While on one hand the opposition seems to be expressing against to this issue, on the other hand, the people of India are coming across mixed statements.