Holding LS, Assembly Polls Together is Desirable But Not Feasible

Holding LS and assembly polls together is fraught with financial and logistical challenges, writes S Y Quraishi.

(As Prime Minister Narendra Modi moots the idea of simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, which is now being backed by President Pranab Mukherjee as well, The Quint re-publishes a piece from its archives illustrating the logistical challenges that the poll panel may face. The piece first appeared on 13 June, 2016.)

The need for holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies has been voiced for several years now. The most prominent proponent of the idea was L K Advani, as far back as May 2010. Recently, a parliamentary standing committee examined the issue and submitted its report on December 17, 2015. This was referred by the government to the Law Commission and the Election Commission of India. More recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also voiced his support to the idea which has a lot of merit but is fraught with problems.

The Parliament committee gave the following reasons in support of simultaneous elections:

• The massive expenditure that is currently incurred on holding separate elections.
  
• The policy paralysis that results from the model code of conduct during the election period.
  
• The impact on delivery of essential services.
  
• The burden on large manpower that is deployed.
  

Save for the delivery of essential services, which actually improves as the government seeks to ensure that voters are happy, the concerns are legitimate.