Case for synchronising election cycles

It will save time and money, remove frequent election-mode governance gaps.

- Dnyanada Palkar

Since public memory is woefully short, it may not be common knowledge that general elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies were held simultaneously initially – in 1951, 1957, 1962 and 1967. The cycle was broken by the disruption of some state assemblies in 1967, advancing of Lok Sabha elections to 1971 by PM Indira Gandhi and the dismissal of six state assemblies in 1978 by the Janata Party.

The debate over the timing of the election cycles has revived after the Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice submitted its report on the ‘Feasibility of Holding Simultaneous Elections to House of People (Lok Sabha) and State Legislative Assemblies’ on December 17, 2015 (see box). It was followed by the prime minister’s statement on September 15 in favour of the concept, and discussion on the MyGov web portal soliciting citizens’ views on holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

The benefits and drawbacks

Electoral reforms, especially simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies, are the need of the hour. As with any major change in policy and procedure, there are pros and cons involved in this. The cons in this regard are that (a) parties will use simultaneous elections as a platform to consolidate political advantage, (b) the logistival and financial obstacles seem insurmountable and (c) regional parties have expressed their concern regarding the constitutionality of conducting concurrent elections.