Guwahati: The High-Level Committee headed by former President of India Ram Nath Kovind has submitted its 18,626-page detailed report on conducting simultaneous elections in the country to avoid recurring expenditures for polls. The report contained as many as 21 volumes divided into 11 distinctive chapters.
According to the report, the committee extensively studied the best practices adopted by various other countries, and the nature of the elections held here in the country and recommended for larger synchronization of elections conducted at various levels.
Listing the reasons that promoted the idea of ‘One Nation One Election’, the report said: Frequent elections burden the government exchequer with additional expenditure. If the expenditure incurred by political parties is also added, these figures will be even higher. Asynchronous elections cause uncertainty and instability, thwarting supply chains, business investments and economic growth.
The report also pointed out that frequent elections hinder the pace of development and sometimes causes policy paralysis.
“Disruption of government machinery due to asynchronous elections causes hardship to citizens. Frequent use of government officials and security forces adversely affect the discharge of their duties. Frequent imposition of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) causes policy paralysis and slows down the pace of developmental programmes. Staggered elections induce ‘voters’ fatigue’ and present a significant challenge in ensuring their participation,” the report says.
Key Recommendations:
The Committee recommends amendments to the Constitution to enable simultaneous elections in two steps: As the first step, simultaneous elections will be held for the House of the People and the State Legislative Assemblies. For this, no ratification by the States will be required for the Constitutional Amendment.
In the second step, elections to the Municipalities and the Panchayats will be synchronised with the House of the People and the State Legislative Assemblies in such a way that Municipalities and Panchayat elections are held within hundred days of holding elections to the House of the People and the State Legislative Assemblies. This will require ratification by not less than one-half of the States.
For the purpose of preparing of single electoral roll and electoral photo identity cards (EPIC) for use in elections to all the three tiers of Government, amendments in the Constitution of India are recommended to enable the Election Commission of India to prepare a single electoral roll and EPIC in consultation with the State Election Commissions. These amendments will require ratification by not less than one-half of the States.
In the event of a hung House, no-confidence motion, or any such event, fresh elections should be held to constitute the new House of the People or State Legislative Assembly for the unexpired term of the House of the People.
The Committee recommends that for meeting logistical requirements, the Election Commission of India will plan and estimate in advance in consultation with the State Election Commissions, and take steps for the deployment of manpower, polling personnel, security forces, EVMs/VVPATs, etc., so that free and fair simultaneous elections are held in all the three tiers of the Government.
It took 191 days for the committee to draft the whole report followed by 65 meetings, and consulted with the stakeholders such as citizens, business organizations, political parties, former Supreme Court and High Court Judges, legal luminaries et al.
The majority of the respondents including the political parties said to have shown confidence in the points raised by the High-Level Committee. “A total of 21,558 responses were received from all over India. Of these, 80 percent of the respondents supported the idea of simultaneous elections. Additionally, forty-seven political parties submitted their views and suggestions on the matter; 32 of these parties supported simultaneous elections, while 15 opposed them,” the report stated.
As many as eight reports prepared by different agencies were studied very carefully prior to jumping to conclusions. The reports cited in the process of drafting the recommendations are: Indian Franchise Committee Report, 1932, General Election, 1957 Report, General Election, 1962 Report, Election Commission of India First Annual Report, 1983, 170th Report of Law Commission of India, 1999, Report of National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC), 2002, 255th Law Commission Report, 2015, 79th Report of Parliamentary Standing Committee, 2015, Working Paper of NITI Aayog, 2017, Law Commission of India Draft Report, 2018, Atlas by Election Commission of India, 2019.
The Committee conducted extensive research and analyzed all the intricate legal, economic, and political issues pertaining to the simultaneous elections. It also examined international best practices for their possible adoption.
The Committee studied the system of simultaneous elections in countries like South Africa, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The Committee held that considering the uniqueness of its polity, it would be best to develop an appropriate model for India.
Local Body Polls
On the elections for civic bodies, the report stated that the elections to the Municipalities and the Panchayats would be synchronized with the House of the People and the State Legislative Assemblies in such a way that Municipalities and Panchayat elections are held within a hundred days of holding elections to the House of the People and the State Legislative Assemblies. This will require ratification by not less than one-half of the States.
Since local body elections touch upon the State subjects (Entry 5) of Schedule VII, Part IX, and Part IX A of the Constitution of India, ratification by the States will be required under Article 368 (2) of the Constitution of India.
List of advantages according to the HLC:
a) Simultaneous elections ensure ease and convenience to voters, avoid voters’ fatigue, and facilitate greater voter turnout.
b) Synchronising elections would result in higher economic growth and stability as it would enable businesses to make decisions without fear of adverse policy changes.
c) Conducting elections to all three tiers of the Government together would avoid disruption of supply chains and production cycles due to migrant workers seeking leave of absence to cast their vote.
d) Simultaneous elections enhance focus on governance and prevent policy paralysis. Frequent elections create an atmosphere of uncertainty and impact policy decisions. Holding simultaneous elections would bring enhanced certainty in policy making.
f) Simultaneous elections would reduce the financial burden on the government exchequer by avoiding duplication of expenditure on intermittent elections.
g) Adoption of simultaneous elections would result in optimised use of scarce resources and result in increased capital investment and asset creation.
h) Synchronising electoral calendars would mean the availability of more time for governance and ensure unhindered delivery of public services to citizens.
i) Simultaneous elections would reduce the number of election-related offences and disputes and reduce the burden on courts.
j) Simultaneous elections would result in the avoidance of duplication of efforts and saving of time and energy of government officials, political workers, and security forces.
k) Holding elections once every five years would result in mitigation of social disharmony and conflict, which is often observed during elections.
Hung House
The Committee recommends that in the event of a hung House, no-confidence motion, or any such event, fresh elections may be held to constitute the new House. Where fresh elections are held for the House of the People, the tenure of the House of the People will be only for the unexpired term of the immediately preceding full term of the House of the People and the expiration of this period shall operate as a dissolution of the House.
Where fresh elections are held for the State Legislative Assemblies, then such new Legislative Assembly unless sooner dissolved, shall continue up to the end of the full term of the House of the People.
State Election Commissions
Single electoral roll may be made by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in consultation with the State Election Commissions (SECs). To conduct local body elections all necessary logistical arrangements may be made by the ECI and the SECs.
Apart from former President, Union Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah, Former Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Former Chairman, 15th Finance Commission Member N.K. Singh, Subhash C. Kashyap, Former Secretary General, Lok Sabha, Harish Salve, Senior Advocate, Sanjay Kothari, Former Chief Vigilance Commissioner, and Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India served as the members of the committee.
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