Arguments in favour of simultaneous elections

♤ Recently, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice is mulling over the option of conducting Parliamentary and State Assemblies elections simultaneously.

♤ It feels that it will drastically reduce the cost of elections for both governments and political parties, and the administrative burden on the Election Commission to conduct elections.

♤ Also, due to elections all round the year and enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct, the development work is hampered in one State or the other, as it prevents both the Central and State governments from taking policy initiatives which contributes to the overall governance deficit.

♤ Populist measures and policies are rolled out hastily to lure the voters (especially if the party at the Centre is different from that of the State), whereas hard decisions and core issues take a back seat, which keep on lingering in the State.

♤ Also, the Ministers at the Centre have to take out time to campaign for State Assembly elections esp. if they belong to that particular State where elections are scheduled, which hampers the work at the Centre.

♤ The Opposition party in order to win seats in the States keep exchanging “heated arguments” over the Govt.’s initiatives and performance which impacts the parliamentary functioning leading to frequent, adjournments, deadlocks, etc. on national issues and bills.

♤ Therefore, if the polls are held simultaneously, then the party in power - be it a regional or a national party - will have to implement its election manifesto and it cannot hide behind the alibi that a government is not cooperating or there is lack of clarity in policies and other excuses.

♤ Simultaneous elections can be worked out, as the people have become politically matured to some extent, as there are instances when they have voted for different parties/alliances for Parliament and legislature e.g. recent Delhi elections.