The desirability of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas has been discussed at various levels. A considered view is that simultaneous elections will ...
The desirability of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas has been discussed at various levels. A considered view is that simultaneous elections will not only keep alive the enthusiasm of voters, but will also result in huge savings to the public exchequer as well as avoiding repetition of administrative effort. It is also expected to control the expenses of political parties. Simultaneous elections will also avoid repeated enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct which affects administrative actions by the government.
President of India, His Excellency Shri Pranab Mukherjee has also expressed his views on the desirability of holding simultaneous elections. Speaking at a recent function, The President said that “With some election or the other throughout the year, normal activities of the government come to a standstill because of code of conduct. This is an idea the political leadership should think of. If political parties collectively think, we can change it.... The Election Commission can also put in their idea and efforts on holding the polls together and that will be highly beneficial”
Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has spoken several times on considering the feasibility of holding simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly elections. In two recent TV discussions, the Prime Minister reiterated this idea and invited a national debate on the issue.
Debate on the Issue - A Brief History
In India, simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha (House of The People) and Vidhan Sabhas (State Legislative Assemblies) were organized in the years 1951-52, 1957, 1962 and 1967. Thereafter, however, the schedule could not be maintained and the elections to the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabhas have still not been realigned.
The next General Election to the Lok Sabha is scheduled for 2019. Elections for the Vidhan Sabhas of 5 States are scheduled for 2017, for 13 States in 2018, for 9 States in 2019, for 1 State 2020 and the remaining are scheduled for 2021.
The issue of simultaneous elections was debated by the Law Commission in its 107thReport in 1999 (Reform of Electoral Laws) , where in it was mentioned that – “The rule ought to be one election once in five years for Lok Sabha and all Legislative Assemblies” ( Para 7.2.1.1 of the Report). Recently, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice presented its 79th Report on ‘Feasibility of holding Simultaneous Elections to the House of People (Lok Sabha) and State Legislative Assemblies’ on 17th December 2015.
Several structural changes will need to be done in case a decision is made to conduct simultaneous election, including possibility of Constitutional amendments to Articles 83, 172, 85 and 174 to streamline the process.
Seventy Ninth Report Parliamentary Standing Committee for PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES, LAW AND JUSTICEMyGov Discussion
MyGov invites citizens, Parliamentarians, Members of Legislative assemblies and councils, constitutional experts, academics experts, bureaucrats, social media influencers, Think Tanks and all other interested people to give their considered view on the subject. The issues that can be considered while formulating a view are (only an indicative list and not exhaustive):
1. Is it desirable to hold simultaneous elections? What are the pros and cons?
2. If simultaneous elections are held, then for the first time what happens to assemblies whose scheduled tenure either ends before or after the proposed date of holding elections?
3. Should the term of Lok Sabha and assemblies be fixed?
4. What would happen in case by-elections are necessitated in between terms?
5. What happens in case the ruling party or coalition loses majority in between term, either in Lok Sabha or in State assemblies?
You may submit your opinion by either writing in the comment box below, or by attaching a PDF document, or through a Youtube video.
The last for submitting your opinion is 15th October, 2016.
Yes these two election should be arranged simultaneously. Another major change required is that one candidate should be elected only for one seat either at loksabha or vidhansabha. So that huge money will be saved if same person is elected at two places and resign from one place.
Implement Electoral Reforms - poll promise - before discussing this. Thirteen reforms by Election Commissisoners are pending before parliament from 1998 for decriminalisation of politics, strengthening election commission etc., details at http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/electoral_ref.pdf. India is infected with jaundice and also AIDS - ALARMINGLY INFECTED DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM. Dr.Voter has to cure it, with electoral reforms in place, to ensure surajya. Bring E-voting-vote from where U R.
My opinion is if the lok shava and bidhan shava elections are done simultaneously, then time and money must be reserved. No need to mobilize the govt. employees for two times. Though it is true that more govt. employees are needed for this case.An online vote casting system must be developed. The use of black money can be restricted. The training of the vote employees will be for one time.Deployment of security personnel can be restricted.So, I support the idea.
1. It is necessary to hold simultaneous elections.
Pros: Less expenditure of government money indirect way saving of tax-payers money.Less Social nu-sense which occurs time to time during elections.
Cons: Some assemblies get extension irrespective of their poor performance and term end, some get short term.
2.One time start needed so some loss is better than large gain.
3. definitely
4. Should go on
5. Re-election for state, give chance to larger party.
Yes it is very desirable and no by elections.
Even if a politician wins from two constituencies he must have one voting right.
No post election alliances only pre alliance must be Allowed
No election expenses from candidates only the election commission must spend
Finally a qualification for candidate , he must have served a minimum of years as an MLAs to become mp and so on up and down positions
No doubt its a good idea, rather great I'll say, which will save on nation' resources. But HR needed to be well trained to handle such a great burden of simultaneous elections. Also their quantity would required to be increased. In short, lots of homework needed to be done before applying the idea to practicality.
