New Delhi:
India aims to move to a system of holding unique, unified, giant elections in which citizens elect both the central government and the respective (federal) state governments.
This won't be the first time India has tried this electoral system. When the country gained independence in 1947, the founding fathers had planned this electoral model: simultaneous parliamentary and state assemblies. From the very first elections held in the country – in 1952 – this was the way India voted.
But all that changed in 1967, when India voted for the last time under the 'One Nation, One Election' format. At that time, all of India voted in one phase, except Uttar Pradesh (formerly the United Provinces), which voted in four phases. The polls took place between February 15 and 21 of that year. This was the fourth election in India and polls were held to elect MPs and MLAs for 520 Lok Sabha seats and 3,563 Assembly constituencies.
Then the era of coalition politics reached its peak, eventually leading to the end of simultaneous elections in the country. Until 1967, Congress was the sole party that ruled India, but by then it faced several challenges and setbacks. India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had died a few years earlier and his daughter, Indira Gandhi, was under pressure from key allies; the Congress was facing large-scale anti-incumbency and struggling with an internal power struggle, and to top it all off, India had lost the 1962 war against China.
Six decades later, India now seems to want to resume 'One Nation, One Election'. The Union Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister has approved the proposal and passed bills to implement it. It is now likely to be tabled in Parliament during the ongoing winter session, with the aim of having it constitutionally adopted so that it becomes the norm.
OTHER NATIONS WITH SIMULTANEOUS ELECTIONS
Before this stage was reached, a high-level panel had been formed. It was headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind. The panel not only studied how India has conducted such elections in the past and what the loopholes were at the time, but also conducted extensive research on how such elections are conducted around the world.
In its global research, the panel focused on seven countries – South Africa, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan – all of which hold simultaneous elections and have done so successfully. The panel then presented its findings and a proposed working model to the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, earlier this year.
In its report, the panel stated that a detailed comparative analysis of countries with similar electoral processes was studied to understand their operation in holding simultaneous elections. The purpose of understanding multiple models from different countries conducting uniform, simultaneous polls was to learn and adopt best international practices and ensure fairness and transparency in the electoral process.
“In South Africa, voters cast their votes for both the National Assembly and the provincial legislature at the same time. However, municipal elections are held separately from provincial elections on a five-year cycle,” the report said.
Sweden, the panel said, functions under a proportional electoral system. This means that the number of seats a political party is allocated in the elected assembly is based on its share of votes in the elections. “They have a system where elections for parliament (Riksdag), district councils and municipal councils all take place at the same time. These elections take place every four years on the second Sunday of September, while the elections for the municipal assemblies take place on the second Sunday of September. Sunday in September, once every five years,” the report said.
The panel also studied the German model of electoral activities. The report states that in Germany there is a constructive vote of no confidence in addition to the procedure for the appointment of a chancellor followed by the Bundestag (the German House of Representatives). It is a variant of the motion of no confidence, which allows a parliament to withdraw the confidence of a government leader only if there is a positive majority for a future successor.
In Japan, the prime minister is first appointed by the National Diet and then accepted by the emperor. According to the report, a key member of the high-level panel had suggested that India should “adopt a model similar to that of Germany and Japan”.
Like India, Indonesia only recently – in 2019 – switched to the 'One Nation, One Election' format. The president, vice president and members of both national and regional legislative bodies are elected on the same day. According to the high-level panel report, “Political parties need 4 percent of the votes to qualify for the National Assembly. A presidential candidate needs more than 50 percent of the votes cast and at least 20 percent of the votes in more than half of the country's provinces to win.”
The report also noted that “Indonesia successfully held simultaneous elections on February 14, 2024. It was dubbed as the world's largest single-day election since nearly 200 million people voted at all five levels – president, vice-president, parliamentarians, members of regional parliaments and municipal elections.”
India, a country of over 1.4 billion (1,400 million / 140 crore) inhabitants, is now aiming to set a world record by holding the largest simultaneous elections ever. It is not yet certain whether that will happen in 2029. It will first have to pass the test in Parliament.
