One Nation One Election


Author: Omkar Abhijit Thosar, a student at Advocate Balasaheb Apte College of Law (ABACL)

Abstract

There are difficulties in the successful implementation of One Nation One Election but the administrative difficulties must be given higher weightage as against the difficulties propounded by the opposers and supporters of the One Nation One Election Bill. It is not that the difficulties given by the opposers and supporters alike must not considered, they should also be resolved as far as plausible but the administrative difficulties must be addressed firstly because if the bill is implemented without addressing these administrative difficulties it would be catastrophic.


The major administrative difficulties cited by the requisite administrative authorities is the lack of electoral infrastructure for the implementation and organization of One Nation One Election. The government needs to allocate a significant amount of monetary resources for the successful implementation of One Nation One Election and many trials need to carried out before the actual implementation in order to check for discrepancies if any and thereby eradicate such discrepancies, with such trials requiring further disposition of monetary resources of the government.


Introduction


The ruling party government at the central level has been known for taking historic decisions during its previous two terms and now in their third term they have proposed another bill which would totally change the electoral demographics of the nation i.e. One Nation One Election.
In our nation, elections are conducted for primarily three governmental levels namely Lok Sabha (House of People), State Legislative Assemblies (Vidhan Sabha) & Pachayati Raj System. The nature and importance of each of the three elections is different and must be analyzed individually.


The Lok Sabha elections are held in order to elect the representatives for the central government. The campaigning done by the opposition parties contesting the elections drives around national level issues, highlighting these issues and the incapacity of the previous ruling party to combat these issues effectively. So the opposition parties basically look to cash in on the anti-incumbency sways against the outgoing government. The outgoing ruling party on the hand campaigns extensively on its achievements throughout its tenure which may include developmental programs, welfare schemes, strengthening educational and healthcare infrastructure, etc. The ruling party looks to build on the pro incumbency wave on the account of its achievements throughout its tenure and banks on its senior and influential leaders who command huge popularity amongst the citizens.


The State legislative assembly elections for all states across the country are held at different time periods as per the terms of assemblies of the respective states. The political dynamics in state assembly elections is very different from the Lok Sabha elections in the sense that there is no absolute demarcation between ruling and opposition parties as the parties who were once in opposition are seen to be shifting sides by joining the ruling coalition. The ruling coalition is ever changing with age old coalitions being broken and new coalitions being set up which can be termed as power politics.
The campaigning by the opposition parties focuses on highlighting regional and state specific issues and the consequent inability of the previous ruling party to handle these issues properly. The outgoing ruling party coalition leads campaigning on some political points in a unified manner which may focus on their achievements throughout their relevant tenure as per the political dynamics of the concerned state. However, their coalition is more often than not, a political arrangement rather than a unison based on ideology of the parties. Hence, the campaigning of each party of the outgoing ruling party coalition may differ partly due to their ideological differences and partly due to the stark difference in their respective vote banks. Therefore, a dealignment may be noticed in the form of campaigning by the parties of the ruling party coalition.
The Pachayati Raj System involves elections held at different levels of the urban, rural and semi urban localities of the nation. Limited level campaigning is done by both the outgoing ruling party and the opposition parties majorly due to the levels at which the political dynamics operate and the subsequent gain associated with securing victory at these levels being limited as well.

Proof:
Every decision taken has its own implications both good and bad and hence not taking a decision will not suffice. A decision must be taken by weighing its positive effects against the negative effects and if the scale of balance sways in favour of the positive effects then the decision must be implemented with immediate effect.

However, if the scale of balance is against the positive effects of such decision, implying that the negative effects cannot be waived off as collateral damage then the implementation of the decision must be postponed until and unless the main elements are not amended in way which reduces these negative effects.
There are supporters as well as opposers of One Nation One Election Bill and both the parties have their respective contentions for supporting & opposing the bill. Some of the supporters have provided outright support to this bill citing the recurring imposition of code of conduct for elections which obligates the police force and other executive authorities to fulfill their election duties and this results in lack of police force at the disposal of the government which creates innumerable problems for effective maintainance of law and order. They further contended that due to the imposition of code of conduct the government cannot function as usual and that it’s a hinderance in good governance. Thus their final contention was that the imposition of One Nation One Election would not only prove to be beneficial for the government but also for the political parties as they have to prepare manifestos, organize rallies, roadshows only for one time which would also save a lot of their resources required for campaigning.
Most of the other supporters have provided support to this bill but have asked for their suggestions to be incorporated in order to ensure effective implementation of One Nation One Election. The opposers on the other hand have outrightly rejected the One Nation One Election Bill citing the implementation of One Election One Election as impossible due to innumerable difficulties involved. They have further contended that if at all One Nation One Election is implemented then the regional & state specific parties will be in an existential crisis and would be either forced to merge into a national level party or its coalition partner who is a national level party would call the shots as far as the election campaigning is concerned and the regional and state level parties will have no voice in such election campaigning as well as the decision making with regards to the same.

Conclusion

One Nation One Election is indeed another one of the many developmental reforms proposed by the government. Its successful implementation will prove to be beneficial for the country in the long term is what the political analysts and experts say. They further contend that with the proposal of implementation of One Nation One Election, the government is undertaking a significant risk of losing out on power in both center as well as states if it fails to counter to the narratives propounded by the opposition.
In the current scenario, a lapse in Lok Sabha elections can be analyzed and accordingly rectified in the subsequent Vidhan Sabha elections, this won’t be possible after the implementation of One Nation One Election and that could prove to be detrimental for all political parties.

FAQS

Q1. What is One Nation One Election?
Answer: One Election One Election is bill introduced by the government in the parliament which states that elections for all three governmental levels should be conducted only once instead of the recurring mid term election system which is followed currently.

Reference

https://legalaffairs.gov.in/one-nation-one-election

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2085082 

https://www.lokatantra.in/articles-details/One-Nation-One-Election

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