A Nightmare for India's Federal Polity

One Nation, One Election is not possible in a parliamentary democracy where governments can fall and mid-term elections are needed in states or at the Centre

- MG Devasahayam

AS is said, a broken glass can never be put together to its original shape. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi is attempting precisely the same with his idea of “simultaneous elections” to all the three tiers of democratic institutions—Parliament, assembly, village panchayats and urban local bodies—taking place in a synchronised and coordinated fashion. And to make this happen, he has appointed a high-power committee headed by the former President of India, Ram Nath Kovind. This was a “glass broken” in 1967 when Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assembly elections were held together. It was then that the “cycle of synchronised elections got disrupted.” Subsequently, following the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution in 1992, the massive village panchayats and urban local bodies elections also became part of the democratic process.

Elections for Parliament and state assemblies are directed and controlled by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Panchayats and urban local bodies being state subjects, as per the Constitution, elections to these institutions are directed and controlled by the state election commissions. As of now, India has 543 Parliamentary constituencies, 4,033 state assembly constituencies, 87,942 urban local bodies and 3,146,163 village panchayats for which elections need to be held every five years. Holding them simultaneously in a synchronised and coordinated fashion is an administrative, logistical, security, constitutional and federal nightmare where “angels will fear to tread”!