Policy Brief – One Nation One Election

Introduction
The democratic foundations of a nation are examined by the level of independence and fairness
its population enjoys in choosing their representatives through a clearly defined process known
as elections. In an exclusive interview to India Today, Prime Minister Modi advocated for a
system of simultaneous elections for all the federal tiers of the executive to pull the country out
of a constantly running election mode. The latest deliberation on the policy of one nation one
election has been conducted by the High Level Committee chaired by former Indian President
Ram Nath Kovind constituted in 2023. It looked into the financial implications and possibility of
ground level application of simultaneous elections in India.

Definition of Simultaneous Elections

The Indian Constitution mandates free and fair election for key constitutional positions like
President and Vice President through indirect elections, both houses of the parliament and
state legislative assemblies through direct elections at regular intervals i. The constitution also
provides the sole power of conducting these elections to the Election Commission of India ii. The
election commission considers the policy of One Nation One Election as a potential solution to
enhance administrative efficiency of the electoral process in India but it fails to acknowledge
the fact that such a synchronization in a country like India can be a threat to a its federal
structure and democratic autonomy of the states.

Simultaneous Elections in Indian context can be thus defined as the structuring of the electoral
process to achieve synchronization of the Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections. In simple
words a voter from a particular constituency would cast his vote for Lok Sabha and State
Assembly elections on the same day. Such an election might not necessarily be conducted on
one single day instead in a phase wise manner provided voters from a particular constituency
vote on the same day for both the elections.

Understanding the Financial Implications Of One Nation One Election

Currently India witnesses 5-7 elections per year every state on an average. This whole process
of conducting elections is very expensive and the entire expenditure of these elections is
undertaken by the government of India and the concerned state government. In the year 2014,
the Government Of India had to incurred a cost of roughly INR 3870 crores for conducting the
Lok Sabha elections only which is roughly triple the amount used in 2009. This amount doesn’t
include the expenses of the state government in the conduct of Lok Sabha elections.

Apart from the administrative expenses, frequent elections also compel the political parties and
the candidates to continuously maintain their party funds that they use during the campaigning
period. This fund is gathered by these parties from different pressure groups and stakeholders
in the society against the promise of favorable policies. This constant race among the parties to
spend more money and gain an upper hand in the electoral process is the root cause of
corruption in Indian polity.

The 79th report of the parliamentary standing committee on personnel, public grievances, law
and justice (2015) has provided detailed projections about the fact that in case of simultaneous
elections in 2014 the overall cost of conducting both the elections would have been limited to
just INR 4500 crores.

Understanding the need for simultaneous elections in India.

 The diversion of security forces – Political violence has recently become a common
trend in all tiers of elections. The recent 2023 Panchayat elections of West Bengal saw
the most drastic degree of political violence a country has ever seen. To maintain law
and order during the period of MCC, the election commission deploys contingents of
Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) all over the constituency. Frequent elections
however increase the demand of CAPF all over the country which initially diverts them
from their primary duty of tackling the nation’s security concerns.
 To Reduce Policy Paralysis and Governance Downtime – For a country like
India ,frequent elections tend to hamper the momentum of implementing policies which
can aid its development. Apart from the limitations imposed by the MCC, the ruling
parties often tend to reserve certain policies towards the end of their term or they have
to suspend progress in certain sections to achieve short term electoral goals. An
example of this dilemma can be the abrogation of Article 370 which was introduced in
the election manifesto of BJP since 2014 but was put on hold keeping in mind the
impact the policy will have in the results of the state and lok sabha elections after 2014.
Frequent elections even disrupt the regular functioning of the government personnel
and cause governance downtime.
 To counter the problem of the country’s constant election mode – The key argument
the government has provided in proposing ONOE is that it will help in significantly
reducing the side effects of having frequent elections throughout the year. The
candidates in their political rallies often try to polarize their vote bank on the lines of
 casteism, communalism and regionalism whose prolonged exposure leads to the
disruption of the social fabric.

Understanding the drawbacks of One Nation One Election

 The influence on voter’s mentality – When a voter goes to cast their vote at the central
and state level on the same day, It often affects the voters mentality and it is more likely
that they will vote for the same party in both the federal tiers. This argument is based
on a recent study conducted by the IDFC institute. The study analyzed four rounds of
Lok Sabha elections from 1999-2014. The research highlighted that in the past when the
state and national elections have been conducted simultaneously in a constituency
there is a 77 percent chance voters will vote for one single party for both the elections.
This figure reduces however to 61 percent in constituencies where both the elections
were held separately.
 Lack of voter’s awareness on split voting - Western nations like UK and USA have
national election days every year where the voters vote for all their executive positions
on one single day. Such a scenario will be harmful for the federal polity of India. Split
voting can be defined as the ability of the voter to elect representatives at various levels
of the government as per their requirement. In simple terms a voter might vote for a
political party in the state assembly elections however they might not feel confident in
that party’s ability at the national level. At a more practical level, Indian population is
still not aware to split vote which is necessary for implementing free and fair one nation
one elections.
 Decrease Of Accountability – The comprehensive pattern of frequent elections compels
the elected representatives to keep working in favour of their vote bank. With reduction
in the number of elections there is a potential risk to this system of checks and balance.
 The problem with the Model Code Of Conduct – One of the main arguments that the
government advocated in favour of one nation one election policy is that it will solve the
problem of administrative stagnation during the long months of Model Code of Conduct
(MCC). The government however fails to clearly specify which provision of the MCC
obstructs development. The MCC clearly specifies that the government cannot only
promise any policy that might influence the electoral mindset of the voters. Any welfare
scheme that has been announced before the beginning of MCC automatically falls
outside its jurisdiction. To add further the MCC clearly dictates that proposals for
approval under the model code of conduct are put up for necessary permissions within
three hours of receipt. All government decisions and announcements are submitted to
the EC for vetting to rule of violations of the model code of conduct. According to 2017
assembly polls where MCC was enforced in five states – Punjab, Manipur, Goa,
Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh; The Poll Panel of the election commission Of India
 received 179 proposals regarding administrative concerns which were all passed by the
panel within five days. Thus in context of Model Code of Conduct it can be understood
that its role in approving these proposals is important to ensure free and fair elections
and is quite the contrary to the allegations of obstructing development.
 The Problem Of By Elections – The policy fails to include the possibility of exceptional
circumstances like by elections which might occur in a more specific context like vacancy
of a position, no confidence motion and so on which has been an integral part of Indian
electoral history.

Recommendations
 National election Day – The sustainability of the concept of simultaneous elections in
India depends on the synchronization of elections to one single day. Contemporary of
such arrangements can be found in USA, UK, and Indonesia. A major obstruction to this
election schedule can be a common consensus among all the stakeholders to arrive on a
mutual date for elections. This recommendation doesn’t advocate a situation of all the
elections throughout the country on one single day but at least simultaneous elections
must happen for a particular constituency.
 A stringent version of election guidelines – Before implementing the policy of One
Nation One Election, there is a need for legislations on the various instruments of
electoral campaigns. There is legally no obligation on the political parties or the
candidates in context of the content of their election manifestos. If elections are held
once every five year then there needs to be some kind of regulation on the ruling party
to fulfill its promises. The statutory nature of the election guidelines become a serious
hurdle In countering the excessive use of money in the campaigning period.

References
Reports

 The 79th Report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on personnel, public

grievances, law and justice (2015). –
https://legalaffairs.gov.in/sites/default/files/simultaneous_elections/79th_Report.pdf
 Law Commission Of India, Draft Report (2018) –
https://legalaffairs.gov.in/sites/default/files/simultaneous_elections/
LCI_2018_DRAFT_REPORT.pdf
 High Level Committee Report summary (2023) –
https://prsindia.org/files/policy/policy_committee_reports/HLC_Report_Summary-
Simultaneous_Elections.pdf
Articles

 On Model Code Of Conduct –

1. https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/model-code-of-conduct-needs-legal-cover-
a-revisit-by-stakeholders-50534
2. https://prsindia.org/theprsblog/recommendations-of-the-15th-finance-commission-
for-2020-21?page=2&per-page=1
3. https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/model-code-of-conduct-not-an-
obstacle-in-governance-reveals-poll-panel-data/story-
lLZ8gwITdzo9GV15zQrZUK.html
4. Volume IV of the Compendium of Instructions, 2024 –
https://www.eci.gov.in/eci-backend/public/api/download?url=LMAhAK6sOPBp
%2FNFF0iRfXbEB1EVSLT41NNLRjYNJJP1KivrUxbfqkDatmHy12e
%2FzBiU51zPFZI5qMtjV1qgjFpqyywa9nI30M3VDkpnFjuFbzXSt5tGcQlNKwRGFYRagsX
QUwCbGU493NshNTgs7UQ%3D%3D
 On Split Voting -
1. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/state-assembly-elections-nudging-the-
voter-in-one-direction/article8438114.ece
2. https://www.livemint.com/politics/one-nation-one-election-what-does-it-mean-see-
benefits-disadvantages-and-other-details-here-11693544025947.html
 On Election Related Problems –
1. https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/prime-minister-narendra-modi-lok-sabha-
election-2024-one-nation-one-election-2540003-2024-05-16
2. https://adrindia.org/content/discussion-%E2%80%9Csimultaneous-elections-
%E2%80%93-possibilities-and-challenges%E2%80%9D-26th-oct-wednesday
3. https://www.csis.org/analysis/indias-national-election-surprise-and-stability
i
Article 54 and 55 of the Indian constitution creates an electoral college for the election of the president and vice
presidents of India. There are also some other relevant statutes passed by the parliament like the Presidential and Vice
Presidential Elections Act of 1952, Representation Of People Act 1950 and 1951
ii
Article 324 of the Constitution mandates the Election Commission of India (ECI) to supervise, direct and control elections
to the offices of President, Vice President, both houses of Parliament (Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha), State Legislative
Assemblies and State Legislative Councils.