Some people on Twitter say it like no other. “It’s rather amusing that One Nation, One Election abbreviates to ONOE – oh noe!”.
After the Union Cabinet cleared the One Nation One Election (ONOE) proposal, legacy television channels, dutifully, complied with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) playbook. Distract from the real issues: unemployment, inflation, anti-federal policies, Manipur, a plummeting rupee, fuel prices not being cut despite a decline in global crude oil prices, and more.
Just Like The Women’s Reservation Bill
This is very similar to when the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed last year. The news stayed on primetime, tucking away the government’s ineffectual handling of the Manipur crisis. These con jobs have a pattern. The Women’s Reservation Bill can only come into effect after the Census and delimitation exercise have been completed. So, the earliest that it can happen is 2034. The ONOE is another ‘Weapon of Mass Distraction’!
As my colleague in Rajya Sabha and eminent jurist P. Chidambaram pointed out, “ONOE would require at least five constitutional amendments”. The High Level Committee (HLC) on ONOE, headed by a former President, recommended 18 amendments to the Constitution and other statutes of Union Territories having Legislative Assemblies. This would require a Constitution Amendment Bill to be passed in Parliament, with a special majority (a majority of the total membership of the House and a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of the House present and voting). Daydreaming is a popular hobby.
Under Article 368(2) of the Constitution of India, ratification by not less than half of the states will be required to carry out amendments to Article 324A to facilitate simultaneous elections of Panchayats and Municipalities. Similarly, in order to have a Single Electoral Roll, an amendment to Article 325 is required. To implement this amendment, ratification by not less than half of the States would be required.
Here are six reasons why ONOE is antithetical to federalism:
- In March 1994, the S.R. Bommai v. Union of India case, a landmark in safeguarding Indian federalism, strengthened the autonomy of states within the Indian polity. Thirty years later, in March 2024, the HLC submitted its report on simultaneous elections. However, the committee’s composition failed to reflect the federal nature of the Constitution, as it did not include a single Chief Minister or representative of states.
- The Terms of Reference (ToR) of the HLC are, in themselves, conclusive proof of the government’s blatant disregard for federalism. The second ToR tasks the committee with the dubious mandate to “examine and recommend if amendments to the Constitution would require ratification by states”. Any constitutional amendment to implement simultaneous polls would directly impact the tenure of state assemblies and governments. Even the Law Commission in 2018 had suggested that while such amendments might not fall strictly under the proviso to Article 368(2), the government should still seek ratification from at least half of the states as a matter of abundant caution.
- A study conducted by IDFC Institute showed that there is a 77% possibility of voters voting for the same party at centre and states if simultaneous elections take place. The study analysed voting behaviour for four rounds of Lok Sabha elections (1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014) in states where the assembly elections coincided with the Lok Sabha elections.
- The BJP government, predictably, seeks to homogenise electoral opinion across all facets of political and personal life. As the 1960s, particularly 1962, demonstrated, simultaneous elections can sway voting behaviour and sideline regional aspirations and state-level issues. In the 1962 General Elections, the party that won at the Union swept the simultaneous State Assembly polls in Madras, Gujarat, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Assam.
- The Election Commission has struggled with the logistical complexities of conducting multi-phase elections. The 2019 Jharkhand Assembly Elections were held in five phases and the 2021 West Bengal Assembly Elections were held in eight phases. Lok Sabha elections across three states were held in seven phases, and even then, it took 11 days just to release the voter turnout data for Phase 1. And you are talking about conducting simultaneous polls!
- Why were the Maharashtra elections not announced along with elections in Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir? Here’s why. The Maharashtra government announced the Ladki Bahin scheme in the budget this June. The first tranche reached the bank accounts of women in August and second tranche will reach beneficiaries mid-October.
More questions. The Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, in a detailed letter to the HLC in January 2024, asked how many state assemblies’ terms would need to be curtailed or extended before implementation of ONOE? And once implemented, what would happen if a state assembly or the Lok Sabha is dissolved before its five-year term? So, fresh elections will be held for the remainder of the term. This in itself is contrary to the very idea of ONOE. Oh Noe!
(Derek O’Brien, MP, leads the Trinamool Congress in the Rajya Sabha)
Additional research: Anagha, Ayashman Dey.
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author