New Delhi:
India aims to move to a system of holding a singular, unified, gargantuan election in which citizens elect both the Central government and respective state (federal) governments.
This will not be the first time India attempts this system of election. When the country earned its Independence in 1947, the founding fathers had planned for this very model of election – simultaneous parliamentary and state assembly polls. From the very first election held in the country – in 1952 – this was the way India voted.
But all that changed in 1967 – when India voted for the last time under the ‘One Nation, One Election’ format. At the time, all of India voted in a single phase, except for Uttar Pradesh (formerly United Provinces), which voted in four phases. Polling was conducted between the 15th and 21st of February that year. This was India’s fourth such election and polling was carried out to elect MPs and MLAs to 520 Lok Sabha seats and 3,563 Assembly constituencies.
Then the era of coalition politics peaked, and ultimately led to the end of simultaneous elections in the country. Till 1967, the Congress was the only party which governed India, but by then it was facing several challenges and setbacks. India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had died a few year ago, his daughter, Indira Gandhi was facing pressure from key allies; the Congress was facing large-scale anti-incumbency as well as struggling with an internal power tussle, and to top it all, India had lost the 1962 war against China.
Six decades hence, India now looks to resume the ‘One Nation, One Election’. The Union Cabinet led by the Prime Minister has cleared the proposal and approved the bills to implement it. It will now likely be tabled in Parliament in the ongoing Winter Session, with an aim to be passed Constitutionally for it to become the norm.
OTHER NATIONS WITH SIMULTANEOUS ELECTIONS
Before this stage was reached, a high-level panel had been formed. It was led by former President Ram Nath Kovind. The panel not just studied how India carried out such elections in the past and what the loopholes were at the time, but also carried out extensive research on how such elections are carried out across the world.
During its global research, the panel focused on seven countries – South Africa, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Indonesia, The Philippines, and Japan – all of which carry out simultaneous elections and have been doing so successfully. The panel then submitted its findings and a proposed working model to the President of India, Droupadi Murmu earlier this year.
In its report, the panel stated that a detailed comparative analysis of countries with similar electoral processes was studied to understand their workings of conducting simultaneous elections. The aim of understanding multiple models from different nations carrying out unified, simultaneous polls was to learn and adopt the best international practices and to ensure fairness and transparency in the electoral process.
“In South Africa, voters cast their ballots for both the National Assembly and Provincial Legislatures simultaneously. However, municipal elections are held separately from provincial ones in a five-year cycle,” the report stated.
Sweden, the panel stated, functions on a proportional electoral system. This means that the number of seats a political party is assigned in the elected assembly is based on its share of votes in the election. “They have a system where elections for the Parliament (Riksdag), County Councils, and Municipal Councils all take place at the same time. These elections occur every four years on the second Sunday of September whereas elections to the municipal assemblies occur on the second Sunday of September, once every five years,” it stated.
The panel also studied the German model of electioneering. In its report is stated that in Germany, there is a constructive vote of no-confidence in addition to the procedure for the appointment of a Chancellor made by the Bundestag (Germany’s Lower House of Parliament). It is a variation on the motion of no confidence that allows a parliament to withdraw confidence from a head of government only if there is a positive majority for a prospective successor.
In Japan, the Prime Minister is firstly appointed by the National Diet and thereafter accepted by the Emperor. According to the report, a key member in the high-level panel had suggested that India should “adopt a model similar to that in Germany and Japan”.
Like India, Indonesia also switched to the ‘One Nation, One Election’ format only recently – in 2019. The President, Vice-President, and members of both national and regional legislative bodies are elected on the same day. According to the report by the high-level panel “Political parties need 4 per cent of votes to qualify for the National Parliament. A Presidential candidate needs more than 50 per cent of votes cast overall and at least 20 per cent of votes in more than half the country’s provinces to win.”
The report also noted that “On February 14, 2024, Indonesia successfully conducted simultaneous elections. It was termed as the world’s largest single day elections since nearly 200 million people voted across all five levels – President, Vice-President, Members of Parliament, Members of Regional Assemblies and Municipal elections.”
India, a country of more than 1.4 billion (1,400 million / 140 crore) people, now aims to create the world record by conducting the largest-ever simultaneous elections. Whether that will happen in 2029 is not certain yet. It will first have to pass the test in Parliament.
