Simultaneous election in Indian context refers to holding election to Parliament and State Assemblies simultaneously. In a diverse and federal country as India the case of simultaneous election appears to be weak because of following reasons
· It impinges on the political autonomy of the state. As in case a state assembly is dissolved the will not be able to call for fresh
election and has to wait for the next national election.
· It will impact voter’s behavior as the voter’s tends to choose the same party when election is held simultaneously.
· It will take the voters right to hold government accountable at least twice in a span of 5 year. State election can be a litmus test for the governance at the centre.
· In case the central government is prematurely dissolved then the state governments also will be dissolved thus creating instability.
· The government should analyze holding of simultaneous election with all the stakeholders and bring the solution which address all the concerns without diluting the voter’s right.
Simultaneous electronic does have benefits,
1)Cost cutting,
2)Reduce the burden on election commission on its staff, police and govt officials,
3)Save people time, productivity,
However there is no free lunch, maintaining the status of largest democracy comes with a price, so conducting simultaneous elections to reduce cost and burden can became a threat to democracy.
Influence by Central ruling party
· Chances of negative influence by the central party through mammoth CSS scheme, more freebies announcement.
· It can Influence the higher officials in bureaucracy to favor them more utilization of muscle and money power.
· voters behavior:-
It can be influenced in favor of central ruling party, and it is observed by some experts as well, when ever simultaneous elections happens there will be a tilt towards voting one party.
· Threat to federal fabric: -
Regional government cannot with stand in front of giant central parties and those parties own existence can become a question,
To keep up the federal structure our parliament is embedded with Rajya sabha etc, conducting simultaneous elections not only influence one house but the other elders house as well indirectly which will finally lead to conversion of "union of states" into "one election one party one govt ".
CONCLUSION:
Any amendment to election system need to be done with a huge caution and brain storming, because to maintain the largest democracy with democratic spirit India need an efficient ,ethical elections.
