A fresh attempt is being made by the Narendra Modi government to veer towards one nation-one poll, which would mean that all State elections are held simultaneously with the general election to the Lok Sabha. In order to kickstart this process, one would need to curtail the term of the Assemblies in several States, whose terms have not ended at the time the Lok Sabha election is to take place.
Options that are undemocratic
There is a deeper problem in implementing one nation-one poll. In the present parliamentary system of India’s democracy, at both the central and State levels, since the survival of the government is dependent on its enjoying the confidence of the majority of the house (majorities can change mid-term because of splits in parties, defections or even if some Members of Parliament/Members of the Legislative Assemblies from the ruling party refusing to support the government) the government can fall mid-term thus leading to mid-term elections. However, in one nation-one poll you cannot have mid-term elections if the rest of the States and the Centre have to go to the polls together. Therefore, the only option would be to either continue with a minority government headed by a Chief Minister/Prime Minister who has lost the confidence of the House or to impose President’s rule for the rest of the term. In my view, both these options would be undemocratic as it would mean that the government rules the Centre/States without enjoying the confidence of the majority of the House. This will defeat the essence of democracy in a parliamentary system.
