Relevance : GS Paper II
The govt. is mooting to holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies.
Potential benefits of simultaneous polls
- Will curb the huge expenditure involved.
- Will reduce the burden on the manpower deployed.
- Ruling parties can focus more on governance and less on campaigning.
Problems with simultaneous polls
- It may require the curtailment or extension of the tenure of State legislatures.
- Another question is: what happens if the government at the Centre falls?
- Whether getting all elections to coincide undermines representative democracy and federalism?
- Regional issues may be subsumed by national themes in a common election.
Conclusion
Given these challenges, there is no case for hastening the introduction of simultaneous elections. The government must accord priority to other electoral reforms.
