One Nation One Election

The idea of One Nation, One Election (ONOE) means conducting the Lok Sabha, and all Vidhan Sabha (state assemblies) elections together, once every five years. The practice of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and all state assemblies was followed in 1957, 1962, and 1967. However it was discontinued. The Law Commission and Parliamentary Standing Committee have recommended ONOE as it will save costs, focus government and lead to good governance. ONOE can only be introduced after Constitutional Amendments, purchase of more EVM machines and after resolving challenges to the federal structure.

India started holding simultaneous elections immediately after its independence with the first election in 1952, in which voting was done for Lok Sabha and State Assemblies together. The practice was continued and followed for the elections held in 1957, 1962 and 1967. Elections were held separately for States and the Parliament for the first time in 1971 as due to political reasons Parliamentary elections were pre-poned by Indira Gandhi.

The idea of One nation One Election (hereinafter referred to as "ONOE") states that the elections of Lok Sabha and all the Vidhan Sabhas should be conducted together, once in every five years. During the last 30 years, it is estimated that there has not been a single year without an election to either a State Assembly or Lok Sabha or both. This always on election process leads to diversion of State resources and many other challenges:-

Reasons for One Nation, One Election:

• Good Governance: Enable Governments (Union and State) to fully concentrate on governance instead of campaigning
• Conserve Resources: synchronous elections will lead to better planning and resource deployment from ECI saving government money.
• Convenience: Voters will be able to cast their vote be it for Lok Sabha elections or State Assembly Elections in the span of a single day.
• Recommended by Experts
  • Law Commission of India, 170th Report, 1999 recommended this.
  • Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice in its 79th Report in 2015 essential for good governance.
• Curbing Policy Paralysis: During Elections, Model code of Conduct is imposed, due to which the government gets barred from announcing any of its new project, developmental work or any policy related decision until the polls are over
• Reduced Freebies and Improved State Finances: High frequency of elections leads to Governments many a times taking politically motivated decisions to entice the voter.

• Legal Challenge: Require extensive amendment to the Constitution as currently if there is no majority government, new elections can be held at any time. For holding of simultaneous elections i.e. the implementation of the ONOE policy, changes to the following would be required:
  • Changes to the provisions around Elections contained in Part XV of the Constitution
  • Articles 83 and 172: duration of Parliament and State Assemblies, shall be 5 years.
  • Article 85: empowers the President to summon Parliamentary sessions, not exceeding a gap of more than 6 months.
• Upgradation of voting infrastructural facilities: Procuring EVMs (ELectronic Voting Machines) in high numbers to incorporate the simultaneous voting.
• Hampers the Federal Structure of the Nation: Normally a chief minister has the power to recommend early elections if there is no majority in the State. Under ONOE only the Union government will be left with the powers to dictate the election schedule for every State.
• High one time expenditure: Carrying out Elections under the ONOE scheme would put extreme one time expense on the Union's Election body (Election Commission of India)
• Political Instability: Hung Parliament in State Assemblies will lead to mid-term elections.
• Challenge to Political Plurality: smaller independent candidates will be overshadowed by the big political parties. Big National and Regional Parties can use their campaigns and resources to grab the attention of the people thereby capturing the vote bank entirely from the small parties or Independent Candidates.
• Frequent Elections create jobs for people: Some of the Critics of simultaneous elections also say that holding frequent elections across India has created its own informal job market, which provides economic support to many. The implementation of ONOE will curb that.
• Impact of the behaviour of the voter: the essence of this criticism is in the argument that the 'indian voter is not educated or mature enough to be able to differentiate between the voting choice for State Election and National Elections', this would lead to:
  1. National issues affecting his voting behaviour in State Elections;
  2. State issues affecting his voting behaviour in the National Elections;
  This according to the critics of ONOE would impact the voters behaviour adversely as he/she can be swayed and influenced by the "large" political parties.

High Level Committee on ONOE: Was setup by the Central Government on 01.09.2023 under Chairmanship of Shri Ramnath Kovind to consult important stakeholders and resolve the challenges in introducing ONOE. Website www.onoe.gov.in has been developed, which will provide repository of all relevant information on ONOE. The Law Commission is being consulted to look at Constitutional Amendment Challenges.

The concept of "One Nation, One Election" will allow India to have elections for Centre and State legislature at the same time. It will streamline the electoral process and reduce the burden on administrative resources. However, there are challenges in implementation as consensus of all stakeholders must be taken before imposing a new system. ONOE has implications for federalism and small parties or independent candidates who will be overshadowed. However, it has been seen many times that electorate gives independent candidates a chance.

With ONOE's implementation, India will be able to have good governance as parties will not always be in campaign mode. Taxpayer's money will be well spent on a one time election. Offering of freebies right before an election will also be reduced and policy based spending will be observed. ONOE is hence important for the task of nation building.

In relation to the mindset of the Indian voter, campaigns on behalf of Election Commission can be launched educating the voters as to the key differentiations between a poll on the State and National level. The Campaign can also be used to educate the voters on what issues are called State issues and what issues can be called National issues, which would enable the voter to make an informed choice.