By TIOL News Service
NEW DELHI, APRIL 09, 2018: 'STAGGERED or Simultaneous Elections: The Way Forward for India?' was the topic of a lively debate at Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Annual Session 2018 held at New Delhi yesterday. Mr Baijayant Jay Panda, Member of Parliament, propagated a whole new idea called One Nation – Two Elections. He went on to say that the ratio of governance to campaigning is the worst in India. "The amount of governance attention we give is the lowest. If elections are carried out twice in a year – in two separate cycles with a two and half year gap in between – will solve at least ninety percent of the problem." He substantiated that in this way, the country will get at least some reasonable time to evaluate and not get distracted.
Ms Meenakshi Lekhi, Member of Parliament, Bharatiya Janata Party shared her views for a whole New India on the anvil. According to her, One Nation, One State is definitely a Common sense Statement. In democracy, she said, elections are equal to wars. Elections are tone-setters for Democracy, not worth the monetary profligacy. She said it is evident that there is usually a 20% spike in voter turnout when simultaneous elections are organised as people look forward to a climate of participation and not isolation. She added, to avoid monetary profligacy and to have an efficient government it is important that simultaneous elections are considered as the way forward.
Mr Gaurav Gogoi, Member of Parliament, Indian National Congress on the other hand spoke about the mood and climate India is in today. The climate of consensus building is lacking. Election Commission has time and again said that elections should be in participative mood; however this has been impeded in recent times. In order to take political reforms in a much more comprehensive manner, we will have to take everybody along, he added. Strengthening the faith of the public is a top priority. This according to him is the next important point since we need to place importance on far more pressing subjects which need to be taken up and that too with specificity.
Mr D Raja, Member of Parliament, Communist Party of India Invoking Dr B R Ambedkar’s ideology of ‘Responsible Governance’ he said that One Nation – One Election is not feasible and is impractical as an idea. There is no national consensus on this idea so far hence may need to be staggered as a thought. We need to respect Democracy and the democratic polity, he said.
According to Mr Sanjay Jha, Spokesperson, Indian National Congress the idea of a Simultaneous Elections is quite worrisome. He highlighted that it has been observed that at least 77% of the time, voters vote for the same party. This may be a good thing as well as a deterrent since the more the power a single side gains there is the possibility of becoming undemocratic. "The fundamental point that we need to address is the fact that we need to encourage the inclusion of good-intending and high thinking people into the Lok Sabha," he added.