I wrote this research article on simultaneous elections with
my colleague Sushant for India Foundation Journal. You can read a version of
the article below:
Introduction
The kind of electoral exercise that we witness in India is
unparalleled in the world. Due to the sheer size of electorate and the expanse
of our democracy, this electoral exercise doesn’t only assume gigantic
proportions, it also leads to huge electoral expenditure. To add to the
existing woes, our general and state elections are not held simultaneously and
thereby one part or the other of our country is always electorally alert. The
Election Commission of India is on its foot throughout the year because of
this. This is the situation when we are not taking account of local elections
for panchayat and urban municipalities. The ever-rising electoral expenditure
on the country because of this can prove detrimental to our governance and
developmental goals.
One of the pillars of Indian democracy is the periodic
organisation of free and fair elections. Thenature of our elections to be free
and fair is threatened by the rising cost of elections as political parties and
candidates who contest look out for other sources to cover these costs. It is
an open secret that this contributes to political corruption as pointed out by
many studies. The frequent elections are also an ever increasing administrative
burden for the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Simultaneous elections at the Parliament and state
assemblies’ level have been mooted out by many as a remedy to this problem of
Indian democracy.
History of Indian Elections
The first election after Independence was held
simultaneously for the Parliament and State Assemblies in 1952. The practice
was followed without any hitch in three subsequent elections held in 1957,
1962, and 1967. This was mainly because non-Congress regional parties (except
Communists in some places) were not as powerful and influential as Congress and
thereby were not in a position to dislodge it in the legislatures or in general
elections. Things after 1967 changed. It was on account of both state and national
politics due to which elections to parliament and state assemblies were
delinked. The Fifth General Elections were due in 1972. But in early 1971,
Indira Gandhi dissolved the LokSabha, and held the Fifth LokSabha elections in
March 1971. The Assembly elections took place as scheduled in 1972. This is how
the initial delinking of LokSabha and Assembly elections took place. Due to
irresponsible and politically motivated use of article 356, many state
assemblies were dissolved in between leading to finalisation of this delinking
process.
Simultaneous elections have become exceptions rather than
rule. As a result, the Election Commission is busy throughout the year
conducting polls in some part of the country or the other. Apart from general
elections in 2014, we had legislative assembly elections for eight states:
Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand,
Maharashtra, Odisha and Sikkim. In 2015, we witnessed elections in Delhi and
Bihar. In 2016, five state legislative assembly elections took place: Tamil
Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Puducherry and Assam. That is, in a span of three
years (2014-2016) we have conducted one general and 15 state assembly
elections.
Countries conducting simultaneous elections
England has chosen to hold general elections and local
government elections on the same day since 1997. But, in practice, local
elections are delayed if polls to European Parliament have to be held.
Italy, Belgium, and Sweden are some countries that conduct
general and local elections together.
In Canada, municipal elections are on fixed dates while
provincial and federal elections take place at any time. The Canadian Prime
Minister and provincial Premiers have a right to call elections at any time
during their tenure of five years. This right could be used by them to prolong
their stay in power by going to polls when their popularity is rated high. This
led to the rise of “fixed election date” movement a decade ago. It succeeded in
introducing set election dates in eight out of 10 provinces. At the centre, the
Fixed Election Date Act was adopted in 2007.
In South Africa, national and provincial elections are held
simultaneously. Municipal elections are not linked with these.
In India, the question of a fixed tenure has been discussed
several times without arriving at any consensus. In 1999, the Law Commission
recommended that the cycle of elections every year should be put an end to.
Now we will discuss the issues that arise due to delinking
of national and state elections.
Rising Electoral Expenditure for the Government
The expenses incurred by the Government in preparation of
electoral rolls, I-cards, election booths & officers etc is significant.
The table below indicates expenditure incurred on LokSabha Elections in various
years as available on the website of Election Commission.
Year Expenditure
Incurred (Provisional) (Cr Rs)
1952 10.45
1957 5.9
1962 7.32
1967 10.8
1971 11.61
1977 23.04
1980 54.77
1984 81.51
1989 154.22
1991 359.1
1996 597.34
1998 666.22
1999 880
2004 1300
2009 1483
2014 3426
Source: Election Commission of India
2014 elections were the most expensive LokSabha elections
ever, entailing a cost of Rs.3,426crore to the national exchequer, a
substantial jump of 131% over the Rs.1,483 crore incurred in the 2009 polls. In
1952, the cost of elections per elector was 60 paise which increased to Rs 12
per elector in 2009, a 20-fold hike.
Rising Electoral Expenditure for the Political Parties
Electoral expenditure of political parties as per details
given to ECI for 2014 elections.
Political Party Expenditure
incurred (in Rs)
BJP 7,14,28,57,813
INC 5,16,02,36,785
NCP 51,34,44,854
BSP 30,05,84,822
Source: Election Commission of India
The funds collected by the political parties also show a
significant rise. The EC report indicates that funds collected by national
political parties increased by a whopping 418 per cent in the past 10 years. It
is an open secret as to what form of political corruption takes place in fund
collection by various parties.
This situation was no different in 2009 when cash accounted
for 75% of the money raised by the Congress and half of that of the BJP. In
2009, BJP spent Rs 448.66 crore in the 2009 LokSabha elections, while the
Congress spent Rs 380.04 crore. Data analysis shows that only 24 per cent of
the total election funding the Congress received was made through cheques and
demand drafts, the remaining being in cash. The BJP, however, received close to
half (49 per cent) through cheques and demand drafts.
The funding of political parties increased by 35.53 per cent
from Rs 854.89 crore in 2009 to Rs 1,158.59 crore in 2014 general elections.
The poll expenditure jumped in recent years as over a period of 10 years, as
the spending by national political parties during the LokSabha elections went
up 386 per cent.
Altogether, the political parties exhausted Rs 858.97 crore
on publicity, Rs 311.8 crore on travel, Rs 104.28 crore on other expenses and
Rs 311.47 crore on expenditure towards candidates.
According to a projected expenditure estimate of Centre for
Media Studies (CMS), Rs 30,000 crores would be spent by government, political
parties and candidates in 2014 elections. A study carried out by CMS on poll
spending says “unaccounted for” money pumped in by "crorepati"
candidates, corporates and contractors has pushed up the expenditure to elect
543 MPs.Out of the estimated Rs 30,000 crore, the exchequer will spend Rs 7000
to Rs 8000 crore to hold the electoral exercise for the 16th LokSabha. While the
Election Commission is likely to spend around Rs 3,500 crore, the Union Home
Ministry, Indian Railways, various other government agencies and state
governments will spend a similar amount to put in place means to ensure free
and fair polls.
In India while we have ceilings for the expenses to be
incurred by a candidate in their constituencies, there is no such ceiling on
the use of money by political parties. The money spent by political parties is
not added to the candidate’s expense statement. Another data (published by
Association for Democratic Reforms) which gives a good idea about the
increasing expenses of the political parties and candidates is the amount
received by candidates from their respective political parties. To make matters
worse, election expenditure statements have to be submitted only by national
and recognized regional parties and rest are exempted from it.
Table: MPs’ declaration of aid for election expenses from
the party
Party Total MPs who have Total MPs to whom Total sum declared LS MPs declared getting (in lakhs) aid was given by party as given
aid from party by party to MPs (in lakhs)
BJP 282 229 Rs 6,589.22L 159 Rs 4,875.03L
INC 44 18 Rs 403.60L 7 Rs
270L
NCP 6 6 Rs 279.70L 5 Rs
250L
CPI 1 1 Rs 21.83L 0 Rs
0
CPM 9 9 Rs 265.46L 4 Rs
128.50L
Total 342 263 Rs
7,559.82L 175 Rs 5,523.53L
Source:
http://adrindia.org/content/lok-sabha-2014-election-expenditure-analysis-declaration-lumpsum-amounts-political-parties
This data is still limited to national elections. One can
imagine the scale of problem if we add up the electoral expenses incurred
during various state elections happening almost every year.
From the above data presented in this section, one can
imagine and make a fair estimate of the gigantic proportions our electoral
expenses have assumed. It’s a burden for the government, taxpayers, political
parties and the candidates.
Policy Paralysis due to Code of Conduct
The model code of conduct (MCC) is a set of norms which has
been evolved with the consensus of political parties who have consented to
abide by the principles embodied in the said code in its letter and spirit. It
comes into effect the moment Election Commission of India announces an election
schedule for polls and stays in force till the end of the electoral process.
Under the code, governments cannot do anything which may have the effect of
influencing voters in favour of the party in power. Grants, new schemes /
projects cannot be announced. Even the schemes that may have been announced
before the MCC came into force, but that has not actually taken off in terms of
implementation on field are also required to be put on hold.
Due to these stringent guidelines, which comes into effect
for 45 days after the schedule for elections are announced by the EC, the whole
country (during the times of general elections) and states (during elections to
state assemblies) come to a virtual standstill. The normal functioning of the
government is hampered. It leads a situation of policy paralysis. It has become
a model for inaction. Designed to prevent pre-poll populism by governments and
political parties, the frequency of its application has turned the Election
Commission's model code of conduct into a charter for non-governance. There are
many examples as to how application of Model Code of Conduct for elections
causes policy paralysis, however, we have listed a few prominent ones.
Even if status quo is maintained on the code of conduct,
there are ways to ensure continuance in decision-making. One solution stems
from the way the Delhi High Court decided the dispute over the new telecom
policy - by making its continuity conditional on its clearance by the next
LokSabha.
Instability
Connected to the above issue, the delinking of elections
also leads to a situation where we witness instability at the national level.
When elections happen, it involves the whole machinery of government. The party
in power cannot afford to look away and even the ministers of highest ranks get
involved in the campaign process. In the Bihar elections we saw that even the
PM was not spared and was actively engaged in the hectic campaign process. This
leads to hampering of normal functioning of the government and negatively
affects the governance of the country. Among the parties, the BJP organized the
highest number of election rallies — 850 — which were addressed by the party
chief Amit Shah, several union ministers, Chief Ministers, party’s MPs and
other star campaigners.
Lack of bold decision-making
If a party which is in power at centre loses election in a
state, it is projected by the opposition as the results have made severe dent
on its mandate to rule. This also leads to loss of confidence in the ruling
regime. A negative atmosphere is created which contributes in affecting the
governance of the country in an adverse way. A loss in a state election in the
middle of the tenure of a government at national level is rapidly projected as
a loss of credibility and hence all efforts are made by the strengthened
opposition to stall any new reform measures.
Security issues
Fearing outbreaks of attacks by Maoist rebels, terrorist
violence and communal clashes between communities, the Ministry of Home Affairs
in 2014 mobilised some 200,000 security personnel – comprising 175,000
paramilitary forces and 25,000 state police officers - across the country to
protect polling stations and safeguard election results. In the last general
election in 2009, the central government-provided security deployment consisted
of 120,000 personnel. These figures do not include the hundreds of thousands of
other provincial police and local security forces that were deployed to polling
stations across the country. This added feature makes our elections more
expensive and the fierce competition in elections may also lead to loss of
lives at many places. With the elections happening so often, these features
have become a recurrent theme of our democratic process.
Recommendations made in this regard
In the first annual report of the Election Commission
submitted in 1983, the then chief election commissioner R.K. Trivedi had
observed: “The commission is of the view that a stage has come for evolving a
system by convention, if it is not possible or feasible to bring about a
legislation, under which the general elections to the House of the People and
legislative assemblies of the states are held simultaneously.”
170th report of Law Commission of India on ‘Reform of the
Electoral Laws’, 1999 mentioned in this regard the following:
This cycle of elections every year, and in the out of
season, should be put an end to. We must
go back to the situation where the elections to LokSabha and all the
Legislative Assemblies are held at once.
One of the reform proposals mentioned in National Commission
to Review the Working of Constitution is: “Hold State level and parliamentary
level elections at the same time. This would reduce election expenditure.”
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public
Grievances, Law and Justice headed by EMS Natchiappan submitted its report on
the Feasibility of Holding Simultaneous Elections LokSabha and State
Legislative Assemblies. The Committee noted that the holding of simultaneous
elections to LokSabha and state assemblies would reduce: (i) the massive
expenditure that is currently incurred for the conduct of separate elections;
(ii) the policy paralysis that results from the imposition of the Model Code of
Conduct during election time; and (iii) impact on delivery of essential
services and (iv) burden on crucial manpower that is deployed during election
time.
There have been demands to hold the two elections together
as it can save money, time and resources and ex-Chief Election Commissioner HS
Brahma recently said that he is not averse to exploring the possibility.
President Pranab Mukherjee, during his lecture to school
students on the Teachers’ Day (5 September) had endorsed the idea of holding
simultaneous LokSabha and state legislative assemblies’ elections. President
Mukherjee had said that with some election or the other throughout the year,
normal activities of the government come to a standstill because of model code
of conduct. “This is an idea the political leadership should think of. If
political parties collectively think, we can change it”, he had said.
The Election Commission has supported the idea of holding
simultaneous elections to Parliament and State Assemblies, in a letter sent to
the Law Ministry in May, 2016. This is the first time the poll watchdog has
officially expressed its willingness to conduct LokSabha and state polls
together. The ECI wrote, “In so far as the Election Commission is concerned,
the issues involved in holding simultaneous elections are not insurmountable
for it. If there is political consensus and will across the board, needless to
say, the Commission supports the idea of considering simultaneous elections”.
The NitiAayog’s discussion paper, ‘Analysis of Simultaneous
Elections: The What, Why and How’, bats for simultaneous elections stating that
frequent polls change the focus of policy making because “short-sighted
populist” and “politically safe” measures are accorded higher priority over
difficult structural reforms.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has floated a very
pertinent idea of having simultaneous elections for the LokSabha and state
assemblies.
Conclusion
Despite all the difficulties and occasional setbacks that we
face, one of the admirable features of Indian democracy is the consistent and
fairly high voter participation in elections. This undoubtedly reflects the
deep entrenched belief of Indian people in the democratic traditions of this
country. We should not return this favour by burdening our citizens with
sky-rocketing electoral expenditure and the ill-effects that comes with it.
India, being a developing country, cannot ill afford to bear the huge
expenditure involved in electoral exercise. From the above discussion it is
evident that the issues that we are facing now in terms of spiraling costs of
elections, administrative burden on government and Election Commission and
governance deficit resulting from these can be better resolved if we revert
back to our earlier electoral system whereby we had simultaneous elections for
both parliament and state assemblies.
