PM Modi’s seeks public views on desirability simultaneous polls
NEW DELHI : The Union government has sought the views of people on holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies, following a debate sparked by the statements of the Prime Minister and the President .
On the MyGov web portal a discussion was started on Wednesday evening outlining five issues that could be considered while formulating a view on the subject. People can submit their views till October 15.
MyGov is a citizen engagement platform launched by the Narendra Modi government in August 2015 to promote the active participation of people on issues related to country’s governance and development and “crowd source governance ideas from citizens”. The website is hosted and managed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).
The `MyGov Discussion’ invites suggestions on five indicative questions. These are: 1) Is it desirable to hold simultaneous elections? What are the pros and cons? 2) If simultaneous elections are held, then for the first time what happens to Assemblies whose scheduled tenure either ends before or after the proposed date of holding elections? 3) Should the term of the Lok Sabha and Assemblies be fixed? 4) What would happen in case by-elections are necessitated in between terms? 5) What happens in case the ruling party or coalition loses majority in between term, either in the Lok Sabha or in Assemblies?
The last date for submitting the views is October 15.The development comes against the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi floating the idea, which was subsequently articulated by President Pranab Mukherjee.
The questions asked are:
Is it desirable to hold simultaneous elections? What are the pros and cons?If simultaneous elections are held, then for the first time what happens to assemblies whose scheduled tenure either ends before or after the proposed date of holding elections? Should the term of Lok Sabha and assemblies be fixed?
What would happen in case by-elections are necessitated in between terms? What happens in case the ruling party or coalition loses majority in between term, either in Lok Sabha or in State assemblies?
“The desirability of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas has been discussed at various levels. A considered view is that simultaneous elections will not only keep alive the enthusiasm of voters, but will also result in huge savings to the public exchequer as well as avoiding repetition of administrative effort,” said a note explaining the reasons for such queries.
“It is also expected to control the expenses of political parties. Simultaneous elections will also avoid repeated enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct which affects administrative actions by the government,” it added.
The noted pointed out that several structural changes will need to be done in case a decision is made to conduct simultaneous election, including possibility of Constitutional amendments to Articles 83, 172, 85 and 174 to streamline the process.
