By Abdul Wahid
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 19th convened a meeting of political parties to discuss the proposal of his government “One Nation One Election” for a simultaneous Parliamentary
( Lok Sabha ) and state Assembly polls. After the meeting which, it was announced that a committee will be set up to explore the possibility of holding simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls. Though no date has been declared that when the panel will be formed, however, it is expected that the government will make a formal announcement as soon as possible, most probably during the ongoing session of the Parliament.
Though the government was very enthusiastic to hold such a meeting, but boycott of the meeting by BJP’s own alliance partner Shiv Sena, has raised suspicion among political circles about the outcome of the meeting. The Maharashtra state-based regional party; Shiv Sena has 18 members in the Lok Sabha.
Prime Minister Modi has invited the presidents of around 40 political parties, but only 21 parties participated into the meeting while almost all the major opposition parties including Congress, and other regional parties from Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, as well as ruling party in India’s National Capital Territory of Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) boycotted the meeting called by Prime Minister Modi.
As per reports, except the ruling party, almost all the participants expressed their reservations about the Government’s proposal of “One Nation One Election.” Only two parties, who are not part of the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the Odhisa state-based party BJD and Andhra Pradesh State’s YSR Congress Party presidents supported the proposal of “One Nation One Election.” While Communist Parties, participating in the meeting expressed their strong reservations about the government proposal stressing that it is against the federal structure of the Indian Nation. The leader of the Communist Party of India Mr. D Raja said that the proposal was “impractical and unconstitutional” and would need major constitutional changes.
Background
- BJP for the first time raised the slogan for One Nation One Election ahead of the 2014 Parliamentary Elections. The idea was floated again by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016.
- Taking it a step further, the Law Commission ( a government body established to work for legal reforms ) submitted a draft report to the government on August 30, 2018, endorsing the proposal. It even recommended changes to the Constitution and the electoral law so as to enable holding simultaneous polls.
BJP’s point of view
- BJP and some of its allies are of the view that simultaneous polls will reduce enormous costs involved in separate elections.
- BJP is also stressing that it will help elected governments and ruling parties focus on governance, instead of preparing for elections somewhere or the other in the country.
- There are also some views that it will stop policy paralysis because of Model Code of Conduct being in place multiple times in the five-year tenure of the government, whether at the Centre or in the states, it becomes difficult for the government to function as it cannot take any policy decision during the election process.
What opponents say
- There is a fear in several quarters, particularly among regional parties that simultaneous elections are against the federal structure of the Constitution as it forces the voter to think of national and state issues at the same plane, and will take away the gains made by regional parties over the years and favour national parties.
- There are also concerns about the idea, in the case of imposition of President’s rule in a state. As per Indian constitution, in the case of ‘failure of constitutional machinery in State’, President’s rule can be imposed and within six month there should be an election. But, in ‘One Nation One Election’ idea, central government will be empowered to continue President rule
(Central Government rule) in the state till the fresh election ( till the completion of five year term) announced. So this will be a blow to democracy and federalism envisaged in the Indian Constitution.
- Some political experts are also of the view that, since elections will be held once in five years, it will reduce the government’s accountability to the people. Repeated elections keep legislators on their toes and increases accountability.
- There also fear, that ‘One Nation One Election’ idea will promote more corruption into the Indian Political system particularly in the case of President rule in a state. According to experts, every ruling party, will adopt all means (whether right or wrong ) to save their governments at any cost. And this will increase horse trading ( lure politicians with a big price ), which badly impact the Indian political system.
- There are also some arguments that, continuous election stops ruling parties from using the government machinery for electoral gains, which important for a healthier democracy.
Challenges before the Modi Government
The basic and fundamental challenge which Modi Government facing is from the Constitution of India. The Law Commission in its report has suggested that, without making amendments in some constitutional provisions, ‘One Nation One Election’ will not be possible at all. It has mentioned over half dozen articles of the Indian Constitution which bars to hold such simultaneous election in India.
The Law Commission has suggested that…
- Articles 83 and 172 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees five years to every elected Lok Sabha and Assembly respectively, ‘unless sooner dissolved’ will have to be amended.
- Indian Constitution’s Articles 85(1) and 174(1) stipulate that the intervening period between the last session of the House of the People / State Legislative Assemblies and the first Session of the subsequent House / Assemblies shall not exceed six months. So if One Nation One Election’ comes in – what happens if there is a hung Assembly/Parliament situation? What if a government falls due to a no-confidence motion? What if a representative dies one year into their tenure? So this constitutional provision has to be amended.
- Article 356 of the Indian Constitution which deals with President’s rule, may need to be amended. Article 356 comes into force only if there is a failure of constitutional machinery in a state – so for President’s rule to be put in place for the sake of simultaneous elections is problematic.
- The Tenth Schedule of the Constitution – which is the anti-defection law – will have to be reconsidered if Assemblies and the Lok Sabha must ensure continuous governance for five years if the ruling party does not have a required mandate.
Why BJP is stressing on simultaneous election
According to political observers, the basic issue which the BJP is hiding and the opposition is unaware is the to change the parliamentary system of democracy of India into a presidential form of the government. BJP from the day one is trying to change India’s parliamentary system of democracy into a presidential form of the government to curtail the power of the Parliament. And this proposal is a very well calculated move towards their hidden agenda.
In a parliamentary system of democracy, Executive is responsible to the legislature and therefore, the opposition always keeps it alert but in Presidential form of the government, the executive behaves like an authoritarian ruler, which is not a healthy sign for a democracy like India which has diverse Social and Cultural structure.
As per Indian constitution, there will be a direct election for the Lok Sabha not for the Prime Ministerial post. And the winning party or alliance ( which have attained the required majority ) will have to elect its candidate for the post of Prime Minister. As per the Constitution, a Minister or Prime Minister must be the member of one of the two houses for discharging his / her duties.
There is also a fear among several quarters, that, this move, the role of regional parties will be confined and by the time they will become irrelevant as elections slogans will be diverted to national issues rather addressing local or regional matters. This was visible in this year’s general election when issues of national security, communal hatred and terrorism and Pakistan dominated while local issues were missing during the entire election campaign.
Conclusion
In the absence of consensus, the government will never succeed in its political game plan. But PM Modi will make all efforts to exploit this mega victory (in general election) to give the proposal another strong push by kick-starting a discussion.
The writer is a doctoral candidate at DAV University, Jalandhar, Punjab.