PM Modi calls for One Nation One Election at all Party Meet

PM Modi calls for One Nation One Election at all Party Meet

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 16 June invited heads of all parties in Parliament to a meeting on June 19 to discuss ‘one nation, one election’.

The June 19 meeting had also been called to discuss celebrations of 75 years of Independence in 2022 and 150 years of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary this year.

Context:

PM Modi is referring to simultaneous elections.

Simultaneous elections refer to holding elections to Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies, Panchayats and Urban local bodies simultaneously, once in five year.

Merits of Simultaneous Elections

• Governance and consistency: The ruling parties will be able to focus on legislation and governance rather than having to be in campaign mode forever.
• Reduced Expenditure of Money and Administration: The entire State and District level administrative and security machinery will be busy with the conduct of elections twice in a period of five years as per the current practice. Expenditure can be reduced by conducting simultaneous elections.
• Continuity in policies and programmes.
• Efficiency of Governance: Simultaneous elections can bring the much-needed operational efficiency in this exercise. Populist measures by governments will reduce.
• Simultaneous elections can also be a means to curb corruptionand build a more conducive socio-economic ecosystem.
• The impact of black money on the voters will be reduced as all elections are held at a time.

Problems associated with simultaneous elections

• The biggest challenge is achieving political consensus, which seems to be “chimerical”.
• Regional parties will be more opposed to the idea than national parties because there is always a tendency for voters to vote the same party in power in the state and at the Centre in case the Lok Sabha polls and the state elections are held together.
• Also, according to IDFC, there is a 77% chance that the Indian voter will vote for the same party for both the state and Centre when elections are held simultaneously.