One Nation One Election

Right Raja

One word cost, better two, cost and efficiency, slam dunk case. Having simultaneous elections would be a huge cost reduction, more important, it prevents government gridlock every time the model code of conduct goes into effect for every election in every state. The people are savvy enough to differentiate state and central issues and vote accordingly, why fear. The government can focus on governance instead of preparing for elections at so many different times. Research shows that a single election also improves vote turnout, and did I say cost, cost of updating electoral rolls, cost of personnel deployment, expenses of political parties, cost of holidays for voting, savings everywhere. Whats not to love about this endeavour.

Left Rani

Cost, cuts both ways, voting machines are currently reused across elections, multiple times, if elections are held simultaneously, the Election Commission will have to procure new voting machinery which is  going to be a huge one time expense. Moreover, the life of a voting machine is 15 years, simultaneous elections would mean all the equipment would have to be replaced every 3 elections which would further escalate costs.

Elections actually give a huge boost to our domestic GDP. The economic activity generated from activities like rallies, posters, meetings and advertisements contributes positively to our economy. The black money held by the politicians and their parties finds a way back to the people and into the real economy, thats not a bad bonus either. 

If the underlying issue is policy paralysis during elections, a straightforward approach would be to remove the code of conduct with respect to policies, the same people, discerning enough to differentiate  state and central issues are smart enough to understand that pre-election policies are just tactical moves before the elections and have no lasting impact on governance. Moreover, incumbent parties have always skirted this issue through announcements shortly before the moral code of conduct comes into effect, lets rip this bandaid off. If we intend to solve this particular issue here is a simpler solution.

All other issues such as voter turnout, electoral roll updation, holidays are minor gains which would be better tackled by alternative measures, we don't need simultaneous elections for that.

Mantri's Observations

Indira Gandhi moved away from One Nation One Election because the Congress was losing national elections as people were prioritising state issues. The BJP believes that it has cracked the national issues puzzle and can influence people the other way round to favour it in state elections. This is a double edged sword, nobody actually knows how this will cut.

The present BJP is characterised by a strong central leadership with weak state leaders, hence they keep losing elections to strong state-level leaders. The BJP is now hoping that the strong central leadership will rub off on the state elections and help them garner more state victories. Again, nobody knows how this will play out post Modi.

The BJP also wants to bring down the semblance of the recently forged opposition unity. It is easy for disparate parties to cobble together a national alliance when they don't have to worry about state elections. Once state elections come by, they can go back to their no holds barred attacks on each other. Simultaneous election will seriously dent opposition unity as they cannot maintain an united front nationally and fight each other at the state level. This will make it more likely that the united front will fall apart increasing the chances of a BJP victory everywhere.

In Conclusion, the cost savings will not be substantial, policy paralysis can be addressed and so the colossal effort of simultaneous elections will not be worth it . There are bigger and more important fish to fry, it might be worthwhile to take a look at Adarsh's thoughts regarding the same from 2019: Electoral Reforms for a new India.

Resolving Issue vs Fixing Bug

 

I was researching Akshaya Patra (don't ask why), no not the organisation, rather, the original Akshaya Patra Draupadi had, to feed her family and their visitors during their sojourn in the forrest, an ephiphany struck me and I realised the difference between fixing a bug and resolving an issue. 

The story goes, Draupadi was granted the Akshaya Patra to feed her family and the multitude of visitors who (without caring for a queen who might have never cooked in her life, trying to manage in a forrest) visited the Pandavas while (I cannot corroborate this) none of the boys helped her cook (maybe Bhima did, he knew his food). This vessel had a bug though, it stopped working for the day once Draupadi ate (talk of misogamy, requiring that she ate last). What was the poor woman to do if Bhima came back at 3pm asking for a snack, tell him to go pick a berry, well that's not our issue though.

Once sage Durvasa comes to visit the Pandavas, and asks to be fed with all his disciples, he conveniently times his entry to just after Draupadi had eaten, so now the bug became a production issue. Draupadi desperately calls Krishna, the developer, the problem solver, the tester, the everything, he arrives promptly, and understands the issue, but asks first for some food (maybe he wanted to test if the bug really exists) to satiate him, all he finds is a morsel of rice and a small piece of vegetable in the dish, Krishna maha prabhu eats that and exclaims "I am full, I cannot eat another morsel" now Sri Krishna is the supreme being, Lord Vishnu incarnate, when he says he is full, every being in the entire universe, leave alone earth becomes satiated (imagine what that could do to the world hunger index). Now the sage and his disciples a find themselves in a pickle, they had asked to be fed, but cannot eat another morsel and so rather than apologise, ask for a doggy bag, slink away, Jai Shri Krishna issue resolved.

Now this is an example of where the issue gets resolved, but the bug does not get fixed.

P.S. The Akshaya Patra was supposed to stop working once the 14 years of exile ended, that means the bug disappeared after 14 years of its creation.