Question

Merits and demerits of having fedral and states elections together in india

Answer 1

ADVANTAGES:

•Reducing government expenditure: Holding an election costs crores of rupees to the government or the public exchequer. And holding elections many times a year to the state legislatures in addition to holding the Lok Sabha election once every 5 years costs thousands of crores to the public exchequer. If elections are held simultaneously there will be significant savings of public money that can be utilised for development works.

•Reducing party election expenses: Fighting elections costs huge amounts of money to the political parties as well who leave no stone unturned to ensure victory for their candidates. Political parties have to engage in continuous resource generation since every year there are elections in at least 2 or 3 states. If elections are held at once, then expenses of political parties will also be under control. This will reduce the role of black money in election funding since political parties will not be tempted to seek illegal sources of funding for elections.

•More time for development work: Right now ministers and their parties are in constant election mode since election to some or the other state legislature is just a few months away. This results in less time to devote to their official duties. If elections are held simultaneously to the Lok Sabha and the state legislatures the ministers and MPs and MLAs will be free for at least 4 years to devote to their official duties and constituencies.

•Better utilisation of security forces: For holding elections hundreds of central police forces in addition to state police have to be deployed. Not only this costs huge amount of money but the security forces also are diverted from their core mandate of ensuring internal security in the country. If elections are held simultaneously to the Lok Sabha and the state legislatures it will free up the security forces to devote to their core duties for the rest of the period.

DISADVANTAGES:

However, simultaneous elections is a concept that has many problems as well. As highlighted above, the term of Lok Sabha and state legislature is 5 years unless dissolved earlier. How can the Lok Sabha or the state legislatures be dissolved before completing their full term of 5 years? If the party in power loses the majority in the Lok Sabha or the state legislature then the President or the Governor can dissolve the Lok Sabha or the state legislature respectively. The Governor can also recommend imposition of Presidents Rule under Article 356 of the Constitution by dissolving the state legislature before completion of its term of 5 years.

Rule by the majority is the cardinal principle of Indian democracy. The concept of simultaneous elections goes against this principle since if elections are held simultaneously then the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies cannot be dissolved before completing their full period of 5 years even if the ruling party is reduced to a minority in the Lok Sabha or the state legislature. Hence the concept of simultaneous elections goes against the federal principles whereby each state has devised its own format and timetable of political competition.

Also, holding simultaneous elections will disown today’s reality of fragmented polity at the state level where coalitions are the order of the day. And where there are coalitions there is bound to be political re-alignments which will consequently cause changes in the assembly even leading to its early dissolution. So instead of accepting this aspect of Indian democracy, simultaneous elections tries to bring in a Presidential type of governance where the state assemblies no longer can decide their own path and have to be in existence for 5 years with a minority party in power.

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