Simultaneous Polls Healthy For Nation & Democracy

Snapshot: In this report you will be reading about:

Debate On Holding The Lok Sabha And Assembly Polls Together
BJP’s view on having the elections simultaneously
Political parties are divided on the issue of having polls together
Bringing about a constitutional amendment is a challenging task
EC would require 24 lakhs EVMs for simultaneous polls
Rs. 4,500 crores required to buy additional EVMs

Debate On Holding The Lok Sabha And Assembly Polls Together

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is putting efforts for elections in 11 states to take place simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections scheduled to take place in 2019.

BJP’s view on having the elections simultaneously

BJP thinks that if the state governments and political parties are comfortable with the idea of having elections simultaneously with Lok Sabha polls, the same can be done without bringing about any constitutional amendment.

Political parties are divided on the issue of having polls together

Discussion regarding the same issue is gaining momentum in the country. Both the government and the opposition are expressing their views. The political parties are divided on the issue of having polls together for Lok Sabha and Assembly. Parties like Shiromani Akali Dal, AIADMK, Samajwadi Party and Telangana Rashtra Samiti are in the favour of the idea while other parties like The Congress, Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, DMK, Telugu Desam Party, left parties and the JD(S) are against the proposal.

Bringing about a constitutional amendment is a challenging task

It is clear that bringing about a Constitutional Amendment will be a challenging task. The parties have given their response to the law commission. Without a legal framework, there are no chances of holding the two polls simultaneously. It will atleast take an year to enforce a law.

24 lakh new EVMs for simultaneous polls

If the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections take place simultaneously in 2019, the election commission would require around 24 lakhs EVMs which is double the number of EVMs required for parliamentary polls.

Rs4,500 Cr required to buy EVMs

The EC officials would require Rs 4,500 crore approximately to buy 12 lakh additional electronic voting machines (EVMs) and the same number of voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines.