One Nation, One Election: An Analytical Study of Its Benefits and Limitations

Abstract

One Nation, One Election (ONOE) has become one of the biggest constitutional and political reform debates in India, which proposes a concomitant cycle of election of the Lok Sabha and all State Legislative Assemblies. The model suggests that national and state elections should be conducted at the same time in every five-year period and it is believed that this will enhance efficiency in governance, less financial expenditure, less administrative disruption and enhance policy continuity. Traditionally, India was used to simultaneous elections only until the late 1960s when premature government dissolutions and the emergence of the idea of coalition politics led to staggered elections. Whereas there have been various nations like South Africa, Sweden, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico and so on that have implementations of synchronized elections, none of them have such a large scale and federal nature as India itself. The authors compare the benefits of ONOE such as, less spending of money during elections, better use of administrative and security equipment, high voter turnout, less political polarization and better coordination between the central government and the state governments. Simultaneously, the paper also critically analyzes the substantial constraints on constitutional challenges, federalism issues, logistical challenges, political narrative imbalance, threat to regional representation, technological vulnerabilities and the challenge of keeping things synchronized despite the existence of coalition politics. The analysis also brings out the problem of fixed-term legislature, the Model Code of Conduct, socio-cultural diversity and political accountability. Generally, ONOE is set to yield some long term gains but its working model will involve massive constitutional changes, political goodwill, infrastructure and re-evaluation of the democratic and federal framework in India. The research finds that ONOE is not a simple electoral change but a radical structural change, the viability of which should be evaluated with some care, consultation and sensitivity to the socio political diversity of India.