A debate which has periodically taken place in this country is about holding simultaneous elections to the state legislative assemblies and the Lok Sabha. Prime Minister said to have time and again supported this idea. PM went a step ahead from what others in the past. While many of the senior members of the Government suggested simultaneous elections to both State legislature and Lok Sabha, Prime Minister wanted to include even the Urban Local bodies and panchayats.

Do government held up important decisions during elections in order to avoid electoral backlash ? 

• In terms of governance and implementation of development programmes, enforcing the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is detrimental. If government or politicians are preoccupied with local body elections and Assembly elections throughout the year, there is no time for developmental work.
• Continuous elections (State of national) mean the Govt remains in campaigning mode, often at the expense of public welfare and critical policy making.?Many major decisions with far reaching impact on the economy and other areas of national life were taken during those decades when elections were held at different times.
• A very recent example is of demonetisation, which was done just a couple of months before the assembly elections. If such momentous decisions could be taken by the prime minister when as many as five states were going to face elections shortly, the argument that frequent elections affect decision making does not carry any weight.
• If anything, frequent elections create some compulsions for the government of the day to take quick decisions to influence the voters.
• Another recent example is after a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus, petrol prices were hiked just after polls by 17 paise a litre and diesel by 21 paise a litre as PSU oil firms began passing on a spike witnessed in international crude oil rates to consumers.

Simultaneous elections:

• It refers to holding elections to Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies simultaneously, once in a five year.
• The idea of simultaneous elections is not new to India. In 1951-52, the first general election to the Lok Sabha was held simultaneously with all State Assemblies. This practice of simultaneous elections continued till the general election of 1967.
• In Recent times, the idea got support from President and Prime Minister. Former President of India Pranab Mukherjee has endorsed the idea by mentioning it in his address to the joint session of the parliament ahead of the budget session.
• Reports of Law commission and the Parliamentary standing committee have also favoured simultaneous elections.

To address the issue populist measures of simultaneous elections:

• The cost of an election has two components: first one, expenditure incurred by the Election Commission and second, expenditure incurred by the political parties, which can be minimised. Election Commission and second, expenditure incurred by the political partiescan be minimised.
• A large number of government employees and public buildings are diverted from their regular responsibilities for election duties, it can be limited.
• Supporters of the simultaneous elections argue that it will reduce election expenditure in terms of finance and reduce diversion of human resources for election duties.
• During elections, political convenience takes precedence over public interest. To lure voters, political parties concede to popular demands without any consideration to public interest. Simultaneous elections reduce such opportunity for political parties.
• The simultaneous election once in five years provides stability to the governments. It allows the government to take difficult and harsh decision in larger public interest.

Issues with simultaneous elections:

• Simultaneous elections may reduce the expenditure incurred by the Election Commission. But there is no guarantee that expenditure of the political parties will reduce. Political parties may spend entire fund at once rather than in phases.
• Centre and States are equal and sovereign within their jurisdiction. Simultaneous elections may reduce the importance of state elections. Thus it affects the concept of federalism.
• Elections are an important part of representative democracy. Simultaneous elections with fixed tenure of five years curtail people’s right to express their confidence or displeasure on the government.
• Simultaneous elections will relegate local issues or issues of state importance to the background. This completely ignores the diversity of the country.

Conclusion:

Free and fair elections are integral to democracy. Continuity, consistency and governance are also integral to democracy. And democracy, according to the experts, also implies good governance. To achieve this, elections are held. But if the means (elections) become the goal, this will not serve democracy well. Holding simultaneous elections will ensure consistency, continuity and governance, and elections then will only be the means to achieve this and not an end in themselves.