When and how did the idea of simultaneous Lok Sabha, Assembly and local body polls

come up?
The Election Commission had suggested as early as in 1983 that a system should be
evolved so that elections to Lok Sabha and state legislative Assemblies could be held
simultaneously. The Justice B P Jeevan Reddy-headed Law Commission said in its
170th Report in May 1999 that “we must go back to the situation where the elections
to Lok Sabha and all the Legislative Assemblies are held at once”.

Official discussions among lawmakers began much later. In its December 2015 report
on „Feasibility of Holding Simultaneous Elections to the House of People and State
Legislative Assemblies‟, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public
Grievances, Law and Justice recommended “an alternative and practicable method of
holding simultaneous elections which involves holding of elections in two phases” —
halfway into the term of the current Lok Sabha, i.e., in November 2016, for some
Assemblies, and at the end, i.e., in June 2019, for the rest. The Committee suggested
that “elections to all state Assemblies whose terms end prior to or after a time period
of six months to one year from the appointed election date can be clubbed together”. It
proposed that terms of current Assemblies be curtailed or extended to align with the
new simultaneous elections cycle, and presented the proposal as a “representative
table” in its report.
In his address to the joint session of Parliament last year, then President Pranab
Mukherjee, too, expressed concern over frequent elections. They “put on hold
development programmes, disrupt normal public life, and impact essential services
and burden human resource with prolonged periods of election duty”, Mukherjee said,
and called for a constructive debate on the issue.
Visuals Of Parliament Budget Session 2018:
Day 1
How exactly will holding Lok Sabha and Assembly polls together help?
In a discussion paper titled Analysis of Simultaneous Elections: The „What‟, „Why‟,
and „How‟, Bibek Debroy and Kishore Desai of the NITI Aayog defined simultaneous
elections as “structuring the Indian election cycle in a manner that elections to Lok
Sabha and State Assemblies are synchronised together”.
Simultaneous elections were held in 1951-52, 1957, 1962 and 1967. The cycle was
disrupted due to premature dissolution of Assemblies and, in 1970, Lok Sabha, too,
was dissolved early. The Standing Committee made the point that not having to hold
frequent elections was “important for India… to compete with other nations in
developmental agenda”.
Those who are for the idea, say it will cut costs. The NITI Aayog paper said the Lok
Sabha elections of 2009 had cost the exchequer about Rs 1,115 crore, and the 2014
elections, about Rs 3,870 crore. The total money spent on the elections, including
spends by parties and candidates, was several times more; the Centre for Media
Studies estimated that an undeclared Rs 30,000 crore was spent on the 2014 Lok
Sabha polls. The Election Commission of India, on its part, has estimated the cost of
holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state Assemblies at Rs 4,500 crore.
There are other kinds of costs that elections impose. Prime Minister Narendra Modi
recently spoke about how frequent elections and campaigns hurt the federal structure
as leaders were “forced to talk politically”. Many have argued that election campaigns
end up sharpening faultlines of caste, religion and community across the country.
Also, the Model Code of Conduct puts on hold all development programmes.
Elections are huge disruptors of normal life — simultaneous elections would reduce
disturbance from political rallies, etc., the parliamentary panel argued. It would free
up large numbers of security personnel and other staff. The NITI Aayog discussion
paper listed the issues: “Suspension of development programmes, welfare activities
due to frequent imposition of Model Code of Conduct, massive expenditures by
government and various stakeholders on frequent elections, black money, engagement
of government personnel and security forces for a prolonged period of time,
perpetuation of caste, religion and communal issues etc.”
What have political parties said? What is the system in other countries?
The BJP has always been keen on simultaneous elections. The BJP manifesto for the
2014 Lok Sabha polls had said: “Evolve method of holding Assembly and Lok Sabha
elections simultaneously.” The Congress told the House panel that it was
“impractical” and “unworkable”; the Trinamool said it was anti-democratic and
unconstitutional; the CPI and NCP said it was “not feasible”; the CPM pointed to
“practical problems”. The AGP and AIADMK backed the idea.
In 2011, the UK fixed May 7, 2015 as election day, and voting on the first Thursday
of May every fifth year. South Africa and Sweden hold national and provisional
elections simultaneously every five years. But many other large democracies do not
have such a system.
So, what will happen if India does decide on simultaneous elections?
To begin with, a constitutional amendment will be needed. The Election Commission
has suggested that the term of Lok Sabha could commence and end on predetermined
dates and, to avoid premature dissolution, no-confidence motions should be moved
simultaneously with a confidence motion for the individual hoping to be the next PM.
If the House is still dissolved, the President can run the government for the rest of the
term — or, if that period is long, fresh elections can be held for a House that would
last only for the remaining length of time. Assemblies can, as a one-time measure, be
extended or curtailed to align their elections with the Lok Sabha cycle.
Chief Election Commissioner Om Prakash Rawat, who has just taken charge, has said
the legal framework needed to hold Lok Sabha and Assembly elections together will
take a “lot of time” to be readied. “It is possible only when you make all the necessary
amendments to the Constitution, Representation of the People Act, and other relevant
laws. Those amendments have not yet been made, because you will have to take all
political parties on board,” Rawat said in an interview recently. It would be “very
difficult” to hold simultaneous polls in the near future, he said.
What do critics of the idea argue?
Critics say amending the Constitution to effect simultaneous elections would
fundamentally alter its democratic and federal character. India is a “Union of States”,
states have their own directly elected governments, and fixing a term adversely affects
this right, they say.
Then, there are the logistics. The deployment of security forces and officials in
700,000 polling stations located in widely varying geographic and climatic conditions
all at the same time will be extremely difficult. It is precisely these problems that now
cause elections to be held in multiple phases and on different dates even in the same
state.
Buying Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail
(VVPAT) machines would cost Rs 9,284.15 crore, the EC told the House panel.
Again, critics say state and national elections are often fought on different sets of
issues — and in simultaneous elections, voters may end up privileging one set over
the other in ways they might not have done otherwise. This could lead to national
issues being ignored, or, conversely, local issues being swept away by a national
„wave‟. Such a wave could be created by parties (such as the BJP in India currently)
that have the capacity to launch an aggressive, expensive, and well-organised
campaign, the critics say.
What are the immediate political ramifications of the idea?
Commentators have noted in recent weeks that the escalating clamour for “One
Nation, One Poll” has coincided with speculation about a snap Lok Sabha election.
Several BJP leaders concede that the party leadership is giving thought to the option
of advancing the 2019 election. Hypothetically, if Lok Sabha elections are held within
a year, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Tripura, Nagaland and
Meghalaya would simultaneously have new Assemblies, while Gujarat and Himachal
Pradesh too will have relatively new Houses. If elections in Odisha, Andhra
Pradesh,Telangana, Maharashtra and Haryana are brought forward, they too, will be
added to the list. And in five years, if elections could be delayed in Uttar Pradesh,
Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur (or polls to Lok Sabha and the above Assemblies
could be advanced), a major part of the country would be having elections at the same
time.