Recently, the Election Commission of India has agreed to organize the elections of the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies together. Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat has clarified that by September, 2018, the Election Commission of India will be ready to organize elections simultaneously. It is known that since independence, elections of Lok Sabha and Legislative assemblies were organized simultaneously till the year 1967 but it was not possible to do so further. The main reason for this was the increasing political instability in the Central and the States, which led to the formation of governments of different political parties in the Central and the States even before the completion of the term.
Major benefits of organizing elections of Lok Sabha and Assembly assemblies simultaneously
- Taking together the elections of the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies, the control of huge election expenses will be controlled and valuable resources will be saved.
- During the elections, a large number of human resources are used so that their basic work is affected. For example, during the elections, the duty of teachers is affected by the duty of education. This situation can be avoided by organizing elections simultaneously.
- During the elections, the code of conduct is applicable, due to which policies are affected and there is a delay in reaching the necessary services to the citizens. The simultaneous organizing of elections will have the effect only for the limited time on policies.
- Most of the parties are in favor of organizing the elections of the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies simultaneously with the Leader of the Opposition. For example, the parliamentary committee formed under the chairmanship of Congress MP Sudarshan Nachiyappan had recommended convening the elections together in its report submitted in December 2015.
Major Challenges from the Elections of Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies:
- The biggest challenge in the path of organizing the elections of the Lok Sabha and the assemblies together is the difference between the tenure of both.
- According to the Policy Commission, if the elections of the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies are done in 2019, then there may be an increase of more than 2 years in the tenure of some Legislative Assemblies for more than 2 years and the term of some Legislative Assemblies.
- Most of the elections for Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections together can be opposed by regional political parties. Especially the regional political parties that are belong to the same state. This can lead to the feeling of cooperative federalism.
Conclusion:
It can be concluded that organizing elections together can save valuable time and resources both. However, there is a need to pay attention to the above challenges in this regard.
