Simultaneous elections
Simultaneous Elections is a political proposal in India, by which national elections (i.e. for the Lok Sabha) and state elections (i.e state legislative assemblies) would be conducted at the same time. This would also mean that the Prime Minister of the country, and Chief Ministers of respective states, would be elected in the same year, and their elections would be conducted simultaneously.
Advantages
Expenditure
According to the 36-page discussion paper released by NITI Aayog, the expected cost of Simultaneous Elections is almost 4500 crores. In contrast, separate elections cost 3870 crores just for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and for each of the state assemblies respectively. So there will be a massive saving in public expenditure.
Normal Life
Due to frequent elections, the normal life of the public is affected. Schools are taken over for conducting elections and are closed for the same. Roadshows for publicity, and publicity rallies also affect their lives.
Imposition of MCC(Model Code of Conduct)
The Model Code of Conduct is a set of Do's & Don'ts for the political Parties released by the EC. Due to this, all the development projects and various activities of the ruling parties’ government are put on hold for a certain period after and before elections. Thus, the more elections there are, the more delay there is in the development schemes and the increase in the cost of public expenditure. If Simultaneous elections take place, the duration of MCC will be reduced considerably and there will be a period of full-fledged 4 and a half years for development schemes.
Security Forces
For every election, there are security forces to be provided with the voting machines. The forces mostly constitute the CAPF and the SRPF's (State Reserve Police Forces). If a security problem takes place during an election, they might be stretched. If elections are held simultaneously, this situation is less frequent.
Disadvantages
Political consensus
This issue will have to be looked upon by every ruling politician, may be of any party, with a positive outcome and is a major issue in India's future, keeping their political interests apart. This consensus is a major challenge, as we have seen for that of implementing GST, which took almost 10 years. Let's hope the simultaneous elections implementation process does not take a huge span. Moreover, for starting the Simultaneous Elections, some of the governments will have to shrink their period in the ruling party and contest elections. If they agree to do so, their sacrifice for India's bright future will be remembered by every Indian for years. For some assemblies, they will get extended duration for ruling.
Constitutional provisions
According to current laws, especially Articles 83 & 85, give the right for the ruling party to complete its tenure of 5 years. So first, we will have to bring changes in the constitution accordingly. Bringing amendments to the constitution will be a long process. So taking this issue into limelight as soon as possible is the solution, according to me.
Pre-dissolution of assemblies
Now this is the issue after simultaneous elections are held. If any of the state assembly parties or Central party fails to get a majority and is not able to form a government, then in such cases should there be a Presidential Rule? or an alternative. What is the most appropriate solution to this problem? The discussions regarding this are going on; hopefully, we find an answer. One of the possible options is to take re-elections for that particular State or only for the Central Govt. But again, the issue of funds will begin, and the expenditure will come to that of what is now going on.
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