O.N KOUL
Simultaneous polls has come to the centre stage again thanks to the approval of ONOE proposal by the union cabinet more recently..If anything is more talked about in the political circles ,intelligentsia and the public ,it is the need for simultaneous elections .The subject of ONOE has hogged the limelight and it is the talk of the day .ONOE will soon be a reality . Now the two bills regarding one nation ,one election has been introduced in the Lok Sabha .Besides the union territories amendment bill which seeks to align elections in the UT’s of Puducherry ,Delhi and Jammu &Kashmir with the Lok Sabha polls was also introduced .These bills were introduced by the union Law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and he asserted that these legislations will not tamper the powers enjoyed by the states and UT’s .The ONOE bill is the 129the constitutional amendment bill .Former president Ram Nath Kovind said that ONOE will galvanize election process and will lead to economic growth which is badly required in the country .ONOE or simultaneous polls will in fact be a boon for the Indian democracy and the passage of the two bills in this connection will be a triumph of the largest democracy of the country .It will bring in its bag multiple benefits and will usher in real democracy and good work culture .A good proportion of the precious time of the centre ,state and UT governments will be saved and the administrative efficiency and acumen of the government will increase considerably .ONOE will ultimately result in good ,efficient ,transparent and quick governance and it will revolutionize and transform our democracy and democratic governance. Good governance which is the slogan and catch word of PM Modi will find expression and reflection by switching over to ONOE .After all democracy is for good governance and for people’s welfare and both these things will result from ONOE .Considerable time ,energy and money will be saved by adopting the system of ONOE and the money thus saved can be used for economic and societal development of the country .People who are the real sovereigns in a democracy will also feel some relief as they will not have to go for voting every now and then as it is the practice these days in our democracy .Time ,money and energy thus saved can be put to productive use in boosting economy and the administration’s precious time will also be saved and put to use in attending to administrative and people oriented functions and above all good governance will accrue from introducing ONOE in the country .Election is the means and not an end in itself in a democracy and the aim and end is the public welfare .People’s welfare can be ensured if we switch over to the progressive system of ONOE and this is the foregone conclusion .Work culture ,administrative efficiency will be increased and all this will benefit the people .It has been seen that the voters are tired of participating in elections so often and they yearn for a change in the system and are in favor of simultaneous polls .People/voters will be saved from going to polling booths yearly ,half yearly and so often as they feel tired and need some relief from this tiring process of elections so often .ONOE will also lead to increase in the GDP by 1.5% from 7.23 percent .There are many benefits accruing when ONOE will be a reality in India and it will be beneficial to the rulers as well the ruled and so Modi wanted it to become a reality soon .Modi has the determination ,will power and the grit to bring innovations in the political system and democracy of the country and the bill regarding ONOE is a step in this direction and it will be beneficial to the country as it will give enough time ,energy to the government to attend to the pressing needs ,concerns and problems of the people .Precious ,valuable and scarce money will be saved which can be put to more productive and efficient use ,thus it may result not only in provision of goods and services and efficient governance but will also result in the growth of the economy .Voters will also be saved from visiting the polling booths off and on and so they their precious time will also be saved and the people can apportion their time to more useful activities. The biggest benefit of simultaneous polls is that it is economical and cost effective as enormous money will be automatically be saved which the government coffers will be full of finances and it can be expended to fruitful activities which may result in economic and social development .Cost effectiveness and economical is the dominating merit of simultaneous polls and the money so saved can be put to productive use which will ultimately result in social and economic development .Neither autonomy nor federalism will be impacted by simultaneous polls as the opposition including congress argue and this criticism of the opposition fails when we weigh the merits of ONOE .One fails to understand as to how is the ONOE dictatorial .The opposition parties should not oppose the ONOE bill for the sake of opposition and instead see the merits of these bills and cooperate with the treasury benches so that these bills will be passed .As of now there were 269 MP’s in favor of the bills introduced and they voted in favor of these bills and at the same time 198 MP’s opposed these bills and so voted against the bills regarding ONOE .The opposition parties should see the reason and writing on the wall and in near future vote in favor of this important legislation .One of the merits of simultaneous polls is that it will lead to national unity and integration and it is also a characteristic benefit which will accrue from implementing one nation ,one election .Government has referred the two bills regarding ONOE to the select committee of the parliamentarians for detailed deliberation ,debate and discussion on the advice of PM Modi and HM Amit Shah as both wanted a detailed deliberations on ONOE legislations before passing these .BJP’s national general secretary Tarun Chaugh has said that ONOE bill will usher new era in celebration of constitution .He also said it is an epoch making step by the prime minister Narendra Modi .To conclude it can be said that the merits of ONOE far more weight its limitations .It can be said that in Modi’s scheme of things nothing is impossible as it is rightly said that Modi Hai Tu Mumkin Hai.May simultaneous polls shine our democracy and give it more strength so that it will flourish and spread its fragrance all around.
(The author is a columnist, social and KP activist)
