Enormous importance was put by the makers of the Constitution in making India a democracy in the truest sense of the word. But as Ambedkar addressed the Constituent Assembly for the last time, he anticipated the democratic nature of this country in jeopardy. In his address, he remarked, “It is quite possible in a country like India—where democracy from its long disuse must be regarded as something quite new—there is a danger of democracy giving place to dictatorship.”
Indeed, the history of independent India has testified to the statement on several instances – the introduction of AFSPA and other draconian laws, the Emergency of 1975, the rigged Kashmir elections of 1987, the Gujarat Genocide of 2002, the unconstitutional abrogation of Article 370 and the countless genocides, pogrom, lynchings, torture, arrests, illegal detentions and fear-mongering in between. Today, the sorry state of Indian democracy is much closer to one final freefall with the One Nation, One Election Scheme, striking heavy blows on the remnants of Constitutional Democracy in the country.
After having prioritised Hindu majoritarianism and political polarisation over the economy for a decade, the Government at the Centre pre-emptively attempts to strike down the federal structure of the country with the One Nation, One Election Scheme. On 2 September 2023, the Government of India issued a notification constituting a high-level committee under the Chairmanship of India’s former Prime Minister, Ram Nath Kovind, to “examine the possibility” of simultaneous elections.
Under the One Nation, One Election Scheme, elections at the level of Lok Sabha and all State Assemblies are proposed to be simultaneously conducted, either on a single day or within a stipulated time frame. The scheme is said to be the fix for the massive public expense of elections, the strain on security and administrative forces and the delay in the implementation of Government policies owing to electioneering.
But what is BJP’s agenda behind pushing the One Nation, One Election Scheme?
The Constitution under Part XV, lays down several provisions for conducting free and fair elections. But what exactly do we mean by “free and fair?” And is the One Nation, One Election Scheme consistent with the idea?
Robert Dahl, a political scientist at Yale defines a “free and fair” election as an election wherein “coercion is comparatively uncommon.” Ironically, the One Nation, One Election Scheme is an instrument to strengthen such electoral coercion. Research on voter behaviour has confirmed that the approach to voting is largely heuristic rather than rational. This means that voters across the nation are not majorly driven by local issues while voting and rather, they vote on transcendental metanarratives. One such example, among countless others, of voting along transcendental meta-narratives, can be taken from the 2019 General Elections when the BJP included the abrogation of Article 370 in its election manifesto, made the Pulwama attack a centre-piece of discourse in its rallies and urged voters to vote on the same lines as “their contribution” in ensuring the security and integrity of India.
To ensure the continuity in such patterns of voting, the BJP came up with the One Nation, One Election Scheme. The One Nation, One Election Scheme would effectively emasculate the federal structure by ensuring that voting happens on “one grand narrative” that works in their favour while completely overlooking local and State issues. Moreover, simultaneous elections increase their chance of getting elected both at the Centre and the States.
A study conducted by IDFC in 2015 revealed that there was a whopping 77% chance that electorates in India voted for the same party for both State and Centre when elections are held simultaneously. However, the One Nation, One Election Scheme is not to be implemented without far-reaching changes in the Constitution and the Representation of People’s Act, 1950. Such changes would essentially place more power in the hands of the President and the Governors of States to clamp down on the democratic functioning of the State Assemblies.
Lastly, the One Nation, One Election Scheme is no solution to the hordes of public money spent on elections. Neither is it a panacea for the delay in implementation of Government policies owing to Electioneering. In a political landscape where information on crony corporates, foreign companies and even shell companies donating to political parties is well concealed by the provisions of the Electoral Bond Scheme, the promise of free and fair elections is a sham.
One Nation, One Election is a mechanism to ensure that the ruling party remains unified and unchallenged in its pro-corporate, anti-people policies. The BJP’s predilection towards unhindered and simultaneous governance at the Centre and the States is fueled by its desire to “democratise” corporate plunder against the will of the people while serving its corporate masters who keep this well-oiled machine running.
