India Takes Step Toward Simultaneous Local and National Polls
(Bloomberg) -- India’s federal cabinet Wednesday accepted the recommendation by a government-appointed committee for conducting national and state elections simultaneously, a policy favored by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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The cabinet’s announcement is many steps away from the enforcement of the policy. The implementation of the plan, named ‘One Nation, One Election’, would require support of parliament by a two-third majority, among other approvals. The federal government’s argument for concurrent elections has been to cut down expenditure on elections and improve efficiency for the duration of five years that a state or national government presides at a time.
“By unanimous decision, the cabinet has accepted the recommendations for simultaneous elections,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in New Delhi after the meeting.
Last year, a government-appointed committee headed by India’s former President Ram Nath Kovind submitted its report recommending the implementation of the strategy. State elections are non-concurrent as of now, with few polls scheduled almost every year. The national elections were held earlier this year while those in one state are currently underway. Three more states are headed for elections in the coming months.
The policy will be implemented in two phases. The national and state elections will be conducted together in the first phase, while voting for local bodies will be in the second, Vaishnaw said.
To implement the plan, the government will need to amend the constitution, a task made considerably harder with an opposition staunchly opposed to the proposal. Modi’s opponents have long feared that the BJP will use its national popularity to also sweep simultaneously-held state elections. Currently, off-cycle elections spread over a five-year period mean local issues — and parties — often dominate voters preferences.
“You will ultimately give the center the power to determine the period of the assembly which is completely damaging of the federal structure,” said Amit Pai, a lawyer at the Supreme Court of India. “It would be contrary to the basic structure of the constitution.”
After losing its majority in the parliament, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has formed the current government with coalition partners and has been grappling with an expanded opposition bench.
--With assistance from Shruti Mahajan.
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