One Nation One Election in the world Largest Democracy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is suggesting one nation one election concept from his first tenure 2014. And so The Prime Minister shri Narendra Modi invited heads of all political parties to a meeting on 19th June, 2019 to discuss the “one nation, one election” thought. The thougt of One Nation One Election is about structuring the Indian election system in a manner such that elections of the lower house (Lok shaba) and the State Assemblies are held together.
Advantages of One Election in India
The concept of ‘One Nation One Election’ can help country to keep a check on the election expenses, parties expenses, other unnecessary expenses etc.
In 2019 elections, there were 610 political parties, around 9,000 candidates and poll expenses of around 70,000 crore rupees yet to be declared by the political parties.
This process of one nation one election will save public money, reduce burden on administrative setup and security forces and ensure timely implementation of the government policies.
The people of the country will be able to judge the policies and schemes of the government, both state and the central level. And it would be easy for the voters to determine which political party promised what and how they implemented them.
It is also necessary to resolve the problem of governance on the part of the policy. It been observed that political party did not take hard decision in regard of policies because of vote bank or elections.
Conducting elections once in five years can provide more opportunity and time to all the concern units like political parties, election commission of India and forces (Paramilitary Forces) and civilians for their participation and preparation.

World Largest Democracy and Challenges for ‘One Nation One Election’
The term of the Lok Sabha and that of the State Legislative Assemblies needs to be managed in a way that so the election to both unit can be held within a given span of time.
For instance, the term of the present Lok Sabha will continue up to 2024, but elections to some of the legislative assembly had already taken place last year (for e.g. Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan) and in some other states elections will be held in coming days like Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
To conduct the election of the State Legislative Assemblies along with that of the Lok Sabha, the term of the state legislative assemblies can be reduced and increased accordingly and for the same and constitutional amendment is needed to manage these common election.
That amendment is needed in
1. Article 83 : It states that the term of the Lok Sabha will be five years from the date of its first sitting.
2. Article 85 : It empowers the President to dissolve the Lok Sabha.
3. Article 172 : It states that the term of the legislative assembly will be five years from the date of its first sitting.
4.Article 174 : It empowers the Governor of the state to dissolve the Legislative Assembly.
5. Article 356 : It authorises the Central Government to impose President’s Rule for failure of constitutional machinery in the state.
Besides these amendments the other area where amendment is needed is the representation of the People Act 1955 because it is also related with parliamentary election.
The core issue which hinders its implementation is India’s Parliamentary Form of Government in which the government is accountable to the Lower House (Lok Sabha or Legislative Assembly). It is quite possible that the government can fall before completing its term and the moment government falls, there has to be an election.

Challenges in part of finance and manpower
At present, EVM is being used at every polling station for taking a poll. For holding common elections, the requirements for EVMs and the VVPATs will double, because for every polling station, their will be need of two sets. One for election Lok sabha and second for State Assembly.
There will also be need of additional polling staff to manage smooth election work.
There will also be problem in transporting all essentials materials to the polling booths.
There will be a need for more security arrangements to manage common elections and so central forces should deployed accordingly.
Solutions of the Problem
In beginning India had conducted the elections for the assembly as well as the Lok Sabha from 1951-52 to till 1967 commonly, therefore there are no disagreements on adequacy and efficacy of ‘One Nation One Election’. India can even think of holding elections at the same time even for the local bodies. The main problem is that how India can commonly allows all the provisions whether they are traditional or conventional on the part of parliament.
One radical solution is to switch to the Presidential form of Government from parliamentary form of government where the President is not accountable to the House.
In America, the election day is fixed. After every four years, the tuesday that falls after the first monday in the month of November is the election day for the seat of the President and the Vice President.
Similarly, the dates for holding the elections for the House of Representative and the Senate, are also fixed. The dates are between 2nd and 8th of the month of November. By law, these dates have been fixed.
In India, fixing the dates of election is not feasible because of the Parliamentary form of government.
If India wants to continue with the Parliamentary form of government, then India should introduce following Provision:
First one is inviting the second or the third leading party in the house to form the government or the House being given the opportunity to elect its leader, in case the government falls before completing its term.
Second is amending the constitution to a certain extent and provide that any assembly whose term is ending within the six months to the Lok Sabha elections, after or before, the election for it can happen with that of the Lok Sabha.
Synchronising only the elections to the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
There is no doubt that implementation of the ‘One Nation One Election’ will involve some Financial costs. But there will be benefit in other aspect as common expenditure for both election.
Problems that can even in Solutions
The amendments should be managed by two thirds majority in both houses of the Parliament, also ratification by at least half of the state assemblies even after amendment it is hard to decide which of the state assembly has to be dissolved for common election in the country.
Switching to the Presidential form of government would mean altering the basic structure of the constitution.
Any ruling political party would hardly like to dissolve the assembly for the sake of simultaneous polls.
There needs to be a consensus on whether the country needs one nation one poll or not. All political parties should at least cooperate in debating this issue, once the debate starts, the public opinion can be taken into consideration. India being a mature democracy, can then follow the outcome of the debate.
India a country of population more than 136 crore. An emerging global power where 60% if its population is below the age of 35 years need an extra ordinary solution for its all major problems and its beginning can be from One Nation One Election.