What are the issues with one nation one elections?

The government formed a committee led by former President Ram Nath Kovind to explore 'One Nation, One Election.' Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi scheduled a special Parliament session from September 18 to 22, 2023, preceding the committee's report by a day.

A day after the government scheduled a special session of Parliament between September 18 and 22, they are making the move. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pushing the idea of simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls for a while. The authorities will issue a notification later on the members of the panel.

What is One Nation One Election?

The Indian government is working on synchronizing elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies under the concept of 'One Nation One Election.' Typically, India conducts general elections for the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies every five years. Nevertheless, in some states, separate elections for the State Assemblies persist, placing a substantial burden on the government exchequer.

The government of Jawaharlal Nehru broke the cycle in Kerala in July 1959, when it used Article 356 of the Constitution to dismiss the government of the Communist E M S Namboodiripad. EMS became the CM after the elections of April 1957, and Kerala voted for a new five-year Assembly again in February 1960.

Issues with One Nation One elections

• To proceed, we need to amend five Constitution articles:
• Article 83: House of Parliament duration
• Article 85: House dissolution by the President
• Article 172: State Legislature duration
• Article 174: State Legislature dissolution
• Article 356: President's Rule in States

• To proceed, we would need the unanimous agreement of all political parties on this matter. Additionally, considering the federal governance structure, it is essential to secure the consensus of all State Governments as well.

• Additionally, we must scrutinize altering the legislatures' tenure to align elections in line with the basic structure doctrine.

• The simultaneous elections necessitate additional EVMs/VVPATs. Presently, the country boasts around 10,00,000 Polling Stations. To enable simultaneous elections, each polling station must be equipped with two sets of EVMs. Previous experience underscores the importance of reserving a minimum of 40% of Balloting Units (BUs) and 20% of Control Units (CUs). Consequently, there is a minimum requirement of 28,00,000 BUs and 24,00,000 CUs for simultaneous elections. The Price Fixation Committee has established the tentative cost of EVMs at ¥ 8000/- per BU and ¥ 9500/- per CU (Post-2013). Thus, the tentative expenditure on EVM procurement will amount to ¥ 3570.90 crore.

• The use of the VVPAT system for simultaneous elections would double the requirement of VVPAT units. In other words, the estimated requirement would be 2.5 million units. This is because each polling station would need two VVPAT units, one for each set of EVMs. In addition, a reserve of 25% would be needed, which is approximately 1 million units. Therefore, the total number of VVPAT units required would be 3.5 million units. The Price Fixation Committee has set the tentative cost of each VVPAT unit at ¥ 22,853. Hence, the total cost of procuring 3.5 million VVPAT units would be ¥ 79,985,500. Therefore, the total expenditure for procuring 2.5 million VVPAT units will amount to ¥ 5713.25 crore.

• The procurement of EVMs and VVPATs for simultaneous elections will require a total of ¥ 9284.15 crore (Nine Thousand Two Hundred Eighty Four Crore and Fifteen Lakh). It's important to note that these machines have a lifespan of only fifteen years. This means they would be used around three or four times in their lifetime, resulting in significant replacement costs every fifteen years.

• The requirement of Warehouses for storage of EVMs will also be double. A number of States/UTs are facing problem of warehousing space for storage of EVMs and in many cases EVMs are kept in private buildings and educational institutions.

• Requirement of additional polling personnel and security forces would strain the State machinery.

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