Author: Pravar Petkar, Head of Strengthening Democracy Desk
How do you conduct elections in the world’s largest democracy? A new proposal by the Indian Government, called ‘One Nation, One Election’ says, “all at once”. Indian elections today are like a feast with an endless number of courses, coming one after the other. The ‘One Nation, One Election’ scheme initially aims to synchronise national and state elections to a fixed period every 5 years. Though it will certainly make elections more efficient, the proposals raise questions about whether local issues will be sidelined and the accountability of state legislators to their constituents.
What will it involve?
Elections for the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the national parliament) and the Vidhan Sabha (state legislatures) occur every five years, but not at the same time. Following the 2024 General Election, there will be state elections in Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand before the year is out. The ‘One Nation, One Election’ scheme would synchronise all state and national elections across the country initially; a proposed second phase would also synchronise some municipal elections, though some local bodies have different term lengths.
Fewer elections, more governance
India’s elections are some of the costliest in the world, not least because of their size and scale: for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Finance Ministry requested an additional Rs 3,147.92 crore (around £282m) for election-related expenses, and Rs 73.67 crore (around £6.6m) to cover the Election Commission of India’s administration costs. The report of the High-Level Committee on ‘One Nation, One Election’ claims the cost of holding Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections in the current format is Rs 4,500 crore (around £402m). It did not indicate how much might be saved through simultaneous elections, though identifies scope for savings on administrative expenses, transporting voting machines and re-deploying people from other jobs to assist with election conduct. This should be welcomed as long as election integrity is not compromised.
When elections take place in India, governance stops. This is because of the Model Code of Conduct, a set of rules governing what parties, candidates and incumbent governments can and cannot do. It ensures incumbents cannot use the state’s power to unduly influence voters during the campaign, a necessity in a country where welfare schemes are crucial to politics at all levels. The Code prohibits new financial grants, the initiation of new projects, promises to construct roads and even the provision of drinking water facilities. Ongoing welfare projects can continue only if work has already started. Other projects, including some forms of emergency relief, require the Election Commission’s permission to proceed. Several political parties (both national and regional ones) reported to the High-Level Committee that many days of governance were lost because of the frequent imposition of the Code, with a reported 307 days lost in Maharashtra between 2016 and 2017. Although the Code is a necessary safeguard, streamlining its imposition can safeguard democracy and ensure the conditions for local growth.
National issues may dominate over local ones
Some critics see the proposal for simultaneous elections as a threat to India’s federal system. However, India’s central Election Commission holds responsibility for Vidhan Sabha elections, and none of the proposals made affect states’ powers or the status of their legislatures. There are questions whether synchronising elections will sideline local issues in favour of national ones. The High-Level Committee itself reports that in 24 out of 31 previous instances of simultaneous elections between 1989 and 2014, the major parties had similar polling numbers in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha. This trend continued in 2024: the Bharatiya Janata Party and the state incumbent Biju Janata Dal returned similar numbers in both the national and state elections in Odisha, whilst the Telugu Desam Party came out on top in Andhra Pradesh in both votes. The 2024 UK local elections show how national and international issues – here, the Israel-Palestine conflict – can shape local politics in some areas. In campaigning for the Haryana state elections, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath sought to garner votes for the BJP by focusing on the revocation of Art 370 in Jammu & Kashmir and the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, despite neither of these relating to local issues. Simultaneous elections will only worsen this state of affairs.
Fixed-term parliaments risk deadlock and disempowerment
Simultaneous elections also require the parliamentary term to be fixed at no more – and crucially no less (in ordinary circumstances) – than five years. State legislatures can lodge a Vote of No Confidence in their governments if they do not hit the mark. If this passes on a simple majority, the Governor must invite the second-largest party to form a new government. Although a Vidhan Sabha can be dissolved mid-term, this would not ‘reset the clock’ under the new proposals: the newly elected legislature would sit only until the next simultaneous election period. With an inevitable election at fixed intervals and coalition government the norm, the incentive for an early election to seek a fresh mandate from the people will vanish – instead, there will be more ‘horse trading’ within the legislature if coalitions break down, where parties might compromise on their manifesto commitments. This disempowers voters, who will likely lose the opportunity to influence their representatives during the five-year term, making accountability more challenging. It can also lead to policy deadlock: where coalitions shift, some policies can get stuck, and it may be difficult for governments to find a majority for others, as happened to the UK during the infamous Brexit deadlock of 2017-2019 under its own (now abolished) fixed-term parliamentary system.
Where do we go from here?
Efforts to ensure the efficiency of Indian elections should be encouraged, given their vast scale. Whilst the ‘One Nation, One Election’ proposals as they stand do raise issues for local politics and accountability, careful design can ensure that simultaneous elections can go ahead. First, policymakers must consider how to strengthen local party politics and the importance of regional parties, to avoid domination by national ones. One useful focus could be regulating political party funding, to ensure that the extra financial resources of national parties cannot outmuscle regional ones. Second, other forms of accountability at state level – such as technology-facilitated public consultations – could be piloted alongside simultaneous elections so that citizens can input into policymaking. With a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha necessary for the proposals to pass, the coming weeks and months will be critical for India’s election system.
