Consensus Is The Key For One Nation, One Poll
The India Commentary view
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By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2023-09-04 06:48:42
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The India Commentary view
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The Centre has revived the debate around holding simultaneous elections to all tiers of government. Prime Minister Modi is fascinated by one nation and one all things and had been talking about it off and on. But with the setting up of a committee under the chairmanship of former President Ram Nath Kovind to study the possibility of holding simultaneous elections in the country, the proposal has been put up for serious consideration. While this is nothing new as the proposal has been studied in the past by a parliamentary standing committee, the law commission and the election commission at various times and there have been several papers published on the issue by experts, the committee will lend weight on the issue through its recommendation.
But even before it has started deliberating on the issue, the composition of the panel has come in for criticism. Adhir Ranjan Choudhary, the Congress leader in the Lok Sabha was the only opposition leader named on the panel. He has opted out, calling his inclusion"eyewash". With this, the panel resembles a government committee despite Kovind's presence as also that of some other members. The government has to recognize that a reform of such magnitude, especially when it will need constitutional amendments that will need to be ratified by half of the states, most of which are not ruled by BJP or NDA, has to be done through political consensus. For this to happen, the panel needed to have more representation from opposition parties without making it excessively bloated.
There is no doubt that having the country in perpetual election mode hurts governance and the economy. Leaders at all levels are more engaged in trying to win votes rather than work for the welfare of those who elect them. But in a federal set up working on the first past the post system and where political realignments happen faster than the drop of a hat, there are many questions that need to be addressed before thinking of holding simultaneous elections. Hence, the government needs to take other parties on board during the exploration and deliberation processes to even hope for them to agree to it.
