PMO seeks public opinion on polls

With both President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi endorsing the need and prudence of holding Assembly as well as general elections simultaneously to save on public money and valuable time, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has begun seeking comments from the general public, as well as MPs, MLAs, bureaucrats, legal and constitutional experts on the desirability of conducting the electoral exercise at the same time.

The PMO has started a discussion on the subject on its “mygov.in” portal, where comments have been invited from various sections of society by October 15, 2016.

The government has asked for a feedback from people on five premises like the practicality of holding simultaneous elections, and if they are held then what will happen to Assemblies whose scheduled tenures are ending before or after the proposed date of holding the polls.

Also, should the term of Lok Sabha and Assemblies be fixed, and what will happen in cases where by-elections are necessitated in between terms.

In case the ruling party or coalition loses majority in between terms, either in Lok Sabha or in state Assemblies, then what should be the plan of action, are among the basic aspects on which views have been sought.

In India, simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas (state Legislative Assemblies) were organised in the years 1951-52, 1957, 1962 and 1967.

Thereafter, however, the schedule could not be maintained and the elections to the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabhas have still not been realigned.

The next Lok Sabha elections are due to be held in 2019, while Assembly polls of five states are scheduled in 2017.

Polls are to be held in 13 states in 2018, for nine states in 2019, and for one state in 2020. The remaining elections are scheduled for 2021.

In the recent past, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice presented its 79th Report on ‘Feasibility of holding Simultaneous Elections to the House of People (Lok Sabha) and State Legislative Assemblies’ in both Houses of Parliament in December 2015.

Official sources however said that major structural changes will need to be done in case a decision is made to conduct simultaneous election, including possibility of Constitutional amendments to Articles 83, 172, 85 and 174 to streamline the process.

A considered view is that simultaneous elections will not only keep alive the enthusiasm of voters, but will also result in huge savings to the public exchequer as well as avoiding repetition of administrative effort. It is also expected to control the expenses of political parties. Simultaneous elections will also avoid repeated enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct which affects administrative actions by the Government, they added.