A Long Overdue Move

India's electoral system, which produces genuine leaders, must be designed for the country's long-term growth

- K Vivek Reddy

ELECTIONS are considered a festival of democracy. India is now debating how often this festival should be held. There are several compelling reasons for simultaneous elections. First, our huge and ever-increasing population will make periodic elections unmanageable. Holding elections when the population was a hundred million is one thing, but holding multiple elections with one billion people will be a considerable challenge. Nowhere else in the world do a billion population go to exercise their adult franchise twice over in five years. If you include elections for local self-governing bodies, one billion people will vote three times over five years. Critics have argued that the cost is exaggerated, but their computations do not include the actual price and impact on the polity. And even if it’s manageable today, it will become unmanageable soon with our growing population.

Second, governance comes to a standstill when you have multiple elections. The Model Code of Conduct puts growth and development into a freeze. Security is diverted from their regular law and order work, teachers must go off work, and officials must stop working. Long-term projects come to a standstill. And it is challenging to pick up steam after a long pause. India cannot afford to go into such frequent freezes when it aspires to become a developed country.

Development and growth require the polity to adopt a far-sighted view on solving the country’s multiple challenges. Leaders must take a longterm view of the economy, but periodic elections push the government to take a short-term view. The incentive to take hard decisions simply disappears. Regular elections evaporate the risktaking appetite of the government.