Simultaneous polls may hurt federalism

State and national polls at the same time can offer national parties a structural advantage, undercutting the space for regional parties

- Yamini Aiyar

Are frequent elections across different levels of our federal polity (and the accountability burden that comes with it) a public inconvenience and a costly hindrance to governance and development?

This is the rationale offered for simultaneous state and national elections, or what the Prime Minister has termed One Nation, One Election (ONOE). India is permanently in election mode, the argument goes, with an average of two to five state assemblies going to polls every six months. This is an expensive proposition that incentivises political parties to remain permanently in election mode, focusing on short-term, vote-grabbing agendas and oiling the parties' financial wheels rather than long-term development. Moreover, the model code of conduct, put in place in the run-up to the elections, disrupts the routine administrative and developmental activity of the Union and poll-bound states. And finally, given the length of each election cycle, security personnel, bureaucrats, and other officers, are kept away from their core tasks for prolonged periods of time.