Simultaneous Polls across India
Source: By Damini Nath: The Indian Express
The Union Cabinet has accepted the recommendations of the High Level Committee on One Nation, One Election, which laid out the roadmap to hold simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies and, ultimately urban and rural local bodies.
According to the roadmap presented by the committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, simultaneous elections will require 18 amendments to existing laws, including 15 amendments to the Constitution.
What has been the ECI’s position on One Nation, One Election?
Lok Sabha and Assembly elections were held simultaneously up to around 1967, after which election cycles started to fall out of sync as many legislatures were dissolved before the end of their terms. At present, elections to the Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim Assemblies are held simultaneously with Lok Sabha elections.
The ECI has said over the years that it supports the idea of bringing election cycles back in sync, but it would require amendments to the Constitution, and additional funds to hold simultaneous elections. In 2022, however, then Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra said that the ECI was “fully geared up” for One Nation, One Election.
Parliamentary Standing Committees and Law Commissions have discussed simultaneous elections in the past. In its submission to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice in 2015, the ECI listed several “difficulties” in implementing the idea.
“The chief issue highlighted by them is that simultaneous conduct of elections would require large-scale purchase of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines. For conducting simultaneous elections, the Commission expects that a total of Rs 9,284.15 crore will be needed for procurement of EVMs and VVPATs. The machines would also need to be replaced every 15 years which would again entail expenditure. Further, storing these machines would increase the warehousing cost,” the committee report said.
What did the ECI tell the Kovind Committee?
The Kovind committee, which was appointed by the government in September 2023, wrote to the ECI on 12 January and 20 February asking for its inputs. The committee also sought a meeting with the Commission, which did not materialise.
In its submission to the committee, the ECI sent the same response that it had provided to the Law Commission of India, which had examined the issue in March 2023. The Kovind Committee annexed the ECI’s response to the report that it submitted to President Droupadi Murmu on 14 March.
In its response, the ECI said that at least Rs 8,000 crore would be needed to procure the EVMs and VVPATs that would be needed to hold simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. The ECI did not consider the requirement for local body polls, as they are administered by State Election Commissions.
As per the ECI’s March 2023 assessment, the number of polling stations for the Lok Sabha election of 2024 were expected to increase by 15% to 11.93 lakh from the 10.38 lakh in 2019, which would in turn increase the numbers of polling personnel and EVMs.
A total 4,719 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) would be required for the 2024 Lok Sabha election, 50% more than the 3,146 companies that were deployed for the election in 2019, the ECI estimated. All these numbers would increase if elections to all state Assemblies too, were held at the same time as the Lok Sabha election, the ECI said.
In its submission to the Law Commission and the Kovind panel, the ECI estimated that a total 53.76 lakh ballot units and 38.67 lakh control units of EVMs, and 41.65 lakh VVPATs would be needed for simultaneous elections in 2029.
This would mean that 26.55 lakh ballot units, 17.78 lakh control units, and 17.79 lakh VVPATs would need to be added to the existing inventory at an estimated cost of Rs 7,951.37 crore. This amount did not include the costs of transportation, warehousing, first-level checking, and other related costs, the ECI said.
The ECI also told the Law Commission and Kovind panel that the two state-owned companies that make the EVMs and VVPATs, Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL), would need time to manufacture the additional units that would be needed for simultaneous elections.
What has been the practical experience with holding multiple elections at the same time?
The ECI has faced challenges in scheduling elections simultaneously due to requirements of security, weather conditions, festivals, and other factors. Earlier this year, it decided against holding elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly along with the Lok Sabha election due to the additional security requirements for all candidates.
Some 400-500 additional companies of security forces would be needed, which would not be possible to mobilise with Lok Sabha elections also underway in the country, CEC Rajiv Kumar said while announcing the elections. “The entire administrative machinery said in one voice that they can’t do it simultaneously,” Kumar said.
The CEC’s admission was mocked by former Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah. “So much for ‘One Nation One Election’. The EC is unable to conduct assembly polls in J&K with the general election even when they acknowledge that elections are due,” he posted on X.
Assembly elections in J&K are currently underway, more than three months after the completion of Lok Sabha elections. Votes will be cast in Haryana on 5 October, but the ECI has decided to keep the election in Maharashtra, which has been held together with Haryana in the past, for later.
Asked about the decision to separate the Maharashtra and Haryana elections, the CEC had said the requirement of a large number of security forces in J&K meant that the ECI could not hold more than two elections at the same time — also, festivals including Ganesh festival, Navratri, and Diwali, and Pitru Paksha, had to be kept in mind while preparing the election schedule.
The Maharashtra elections are now expected in November. Counting in J&K and Haryana will take place on 8 October.
