One nation one election : The debate

Elections are considered to be the oxygen of democrcacy. Any decision pertaining to elections need to be thoroughly debated. The one nation one election concept is an innovative idea proposed by the prime minister . It has got the president’s upvote also . Whether this idea will curtail the evils associated with frequent elections or will be responsible for the genesis of new problems is a thing to ponder and debate.

Arguments in Favour

• Economic – Frequent elections cause a lot of burden on the exchecquer in the economic terms . The whole process is time and money consuming.
• Policy making – In india the election parties are always in the campaign mode . There is a continuum of local , assembly and lok sabha elections. Making elections a singular exercise after a fixed time frame will make the political parties devote more time to policy making.
• Model code of conduct- Policy making comes to a standstill during the model code of conduct. Parties always engage in populist politics during the MCC to affect the electoral outcomes . Even a genuine policy roped in by the ruling party faves the same allegation.
• Administrative ease – Frequent elections consume a lot of administrative chunk of the society be it gazzeted officers , school teachers , police etc. Hence a single national exercise of exercise would lead to ease of elections.
• Voter turnout- A single election exercise will be less cumbersome . Voter turnout will increase and it will be an added icing on the cake .

Arguments against One Nation One Election

Frequent elections is a phenomenon in major democracies like that of the USA where presidential , senate elections are held at an interval of atleast 2 years.Various arguments in against one nation one election are-
• Political consensus- Achieving a political consensus on such a debatable issue will be ‘chimerical’. Most of the regional parties will disagree to the proposal as there is a tendency among the voters to vote for the same party at both the national and state level . According to IDFC there is a 77percent chance that a voter votes for the same party at national and state level.
• Economic- Elections being oxygen of democracy provide employment to numerous people and help to revive the economy.
• Environmental- Frequent elections have some environmental benefits also. They keep a check on pollution like ban on plastics, noise pollution , public defacement and other issues of public concern.
• Democratic and Federal structure- If the elections are held at a common time at a common platform then there is a tendency among the voters to mix national issues and the issues of the state. Also frequent elections keeps a check on fascism , demagoguery and oligarchy.Also it ensures more accountability as the political parties are subjected to frequent elections at different levels. They are more liable to answer to the people to win. Frequent elections also discard the possibility of electoral outcomes at both centre and state level according to the mood of nation.

By: Dilpreet singh