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After much speculation, the Narendra Modi-led BJP government on September 2 formed a committee on One Country, One Election chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind. The committee has eight members, including Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and former MP Ghulam Nabi Azad. Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will attend the meeting as a special member.
However, as soon as his name came up in the committee, Adhir Ranjan wrote a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah stating, "I will not work on this committee as it has been formed to cheat. "Now that it is clear that the government can bring a bill on one country, one election, the law ministry has already formed another committee to bring the country together in view of the current legal framework," he said The BJP has decided to hold the Lok Sabha, Assembly, municipal and panchayat elections simultaneously on the advice of the RSS to secure its political future The government has been encouraged to submit a report within a week, Congress MP Odhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, adding that the common people have no difficulty understanding why the government needs it. It is clear as daylight that the BJP is terribly afraid of the united opposition political force India. Moreover, the current Modi government has unnecessarily brought up the issue of one state, one election to divert voters' attention from every burning issue of national life and the growing opposition political forces for the upcoming four state assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This government has broken all concepts of parliamentary system. It should be noted that if a special session had to be called, the government should have held at least informal talks with all the opposition parties. No one knows what the agenda of the special session will be from September 18 and on what basis the session has been convened. It is no exaggeration to say that this is part of a long-term strategy of the BJP and the RSS. In very simple terms, with the committee formed for 'One Country, One Election', the Bharatiya Janata Party hopes to benefit from a major political surgical strike for the upcoming elections. Political experts believe that no political party can openly dismiss the BJP's bet soon. This is because it will now be very easy to explain to the people that the people are directly affected by separate elections. As a result, the BJP has prepared a big political plan on the issue of one nation-one election! In political circles, the Bharatiya Janata Party's bet on the Balakot surgical strike can be described as a political gain of emotion in my way. There are plans to kill the small political regional parties in the states. If the one country one election process is implemented, the regional parties will also face a major political crisis.
Currently, the committee formed to explore the possibility of 'One Country, One Election' is boiling in the country's politics. All parties are now having to change their political strategies. The BJP has already formed a trained professional team to highlight issues that directly affect the people as a matter of public interest. However, this is not the first time the issue of one country, one election, has been raised If you look at it from a political point of view, it can be considered as a big issue of political gain for the Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP thought deeply about political gain and focused on such surveys in 2014 and Now it is important to point out that holding elections once will save a huge amount of money rather than separate elections every year.It will also save people time and significantly reduce the cost of government system.Political analysts warn that this decision is politically challenging, and organizations can move away from supporting it openly because Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are totally different issues. Since regional parties always prepare elections according to local issues and assembly issues.
Undwill blame political leaders and highlight the issue of misuse of exchequer funds. Now, bringing this issue to the attention of the people is not only a big political bet for them, but it is also seen as a game changer in the upcoming elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to create a big stir in politics by raising the issue of an election in a country in an election year so that the issue of irregularities of lakhs of crores of rupees in various departments detected by the CAG comes to light. The BJP believes that this is an issue on which any political party is bound to gain considerable support even if it holds a referendum in the electoral arena. As a result, instead of discussing the election promises made by the BJP in 2014 and 2019, it will now be able to present a new agenda during one country, one election.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi said a special session of Parliament has been convened from September 18 to 22 with five meetings. Pralhad Joshi said meaningful discussions and debates are expected in the special session of Parliament on the issue of one country, one election. Whenever elections are held in the country, a Model Code of Conduct is implemented. This means that after the election notification is issued, the government cannot announce any projects, introduce new schemes or financial approvals and make any appointments. Due to frequent elections, the Model Code of Conduct is repeatedly implemented in the country. It is said that due to this, the government is unable to take the necessary policy decisions and there are problems in implementing many schemes. It affects development. Therefore, it is said that if Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections are held simultaneously in the country, the Model Code of Conduct will remain in force for a short period of time. After that, development work can be done without any hindrance. It is also said that as elections are held at different times, people's representatives must be continuously accountable. No party or leader can act arbitrarily after winning an election. But political analysts say that if the Lok Sabha and all Assembly elections are held simultaneously, it will increase the likelihood of dictatorship for the ruling party. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pushing for simultaneous Lok Sabha and all Assembly elections. Prime Minister Modi has said many times that if the Lok Sabha and all the Assembly elections are held simultaneously, it will save money and time.
Thus, the BJP and the Modi government have been supporting the proposal to hold elections together. The BJP knows that it is now the richest political party in the country. Therefore, one country one election will naturally benefit the BJP, so many opposition parties are opposed to it. The opposition parties have collectively called the elections an attack on the basic structure of the Constitution.
The most dangerous thing is that if no one gets a majority (in the case of one country one election), how will the Chief Minister be elected at the state level? Without anti-defection laws, a Chief Minister would be elected, just like a Presidential election. This means that MLAs from any party can vote for any party. One State, One Election is the legitimization of Operation Lotus and another tradition of legitimizing the sale and purchase of legislators will be established.
2023-24 is an election year for the country. Ten states are proposed to hold elections in 2023 this year, of which five have been held and five are going to be held. Lok Sabha elections will be held in 2024 with seven states. Some political analysts said 18 elections were held in the past 24 months. By-elections were also held for several Assembly and some Lok Sabha seats. There will be at least 10 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections at the end of 2023 and This means that the country will be busy with elections in the coming days. But at a time when the country and the world are facing many challenges, the entire human race is struggling with the effects of COVID-19.
Additionally, simultaneous elections can increase turnout percentages. When elections are held at different times and repeatedly, voters begin to become discouraged which reduces the turnout. By holding all elections at the same time, voters will be more likely to participate in the democratic process. But overall, the current Modi government wants to impose this measure immediately only to secure its political future. If Modi's intentions were in the interest of the people, he would have taken decisions in consultation with all parties. An all-party meeting should have been convened now. But that has not been done. Prime Minister Modi is a big advocate of simultaneous elections in the country and has expressed his views on simultaneous elections in the country many times in public forums. But he has limited his plans to his own party. The issue was also included in the BJP manifesto before the 2014 elections. In a TV interview in June of that year, he called for simultaneous elections and urged the Election Commission to work towards making them happen. The Prime Minister challenged the holding of simultaneous elections, saying the move would "help increase transparency in public life and fight corruption". The Election Commission has also backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's move, but the consent of all parties is not yet clear. In the past, senior leader LK Advani also raised the issue loudly in 1995 and Former President Pranab Mukherjee was also in favour of simultaneous Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections. It is time for a positive discussion on electoral reform. However, the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections were held simultaneously immediately after independence. In fact, simultaneous elections have been going on for a long time. In December 2015, a Parliamentary Standing Committee recommended that all Assembly elections in the country be held in two phases. In April 2018, the Law Commission released a three-page white paper on simultaneous elections. In the draft, the Law Commission called for a comprehensive discussion on the need for data-based simultaneous elections. The draft Commission also referred to previous demands or recommendations for simultaneous elections. If we go through history, the concept of simultaneous elections first came in 1983 in the annual report released by the Election Commission. This was followed by the report of the Law Commission in 1999 and the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee in In 2017, the NITI Aayog also published an analysis paper on the recommendation of simultaneous elections. The Policy Commission even recommended holding simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections . The commission also recommended convening an all-party meeting to hold simultaneous elections in two phases from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Here, some legislative terms must be served at most once or some must be extended. In fact, elections were held simultaneously in the country after independence. In the first general elections of 1951-52, elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies were held simultaneously. This continued uninterrupted until 1967, but was dissolved in 1968 and 1969 due to the premature dissolution of some assemblies and the midterm elections in 1971 to the Lok Sabha. Since then, only the 8th, 10th, 14th and 15th Lok Sabhas have completed their full terms.Now the situation is that an average of 5-7 elections are held in the country every year. These frequent elections not only result in large expenditures, but also badly affect government work as a result of the continuous enforcement of the code of conduct. According to the NITI Aayog, frequent elections do not bring stability in policy making and short-sighted and populist decisions are preferred over structural reforms to engage voters. But the important question is, when everything is so favourable, where are the obstacles? In fact, the obstacle to simultaneous elections is the question of consensus among all parties. The Election Commission also said it was ready for a country's elections if all
