<p><strong>NEW DELHI:</strong> To prevent interruptions and extra expenses, India Inc. has proposed holding simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections once every five years.</p>
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<p>Separate submissions have been given by industry associations CII and Ficci to the committee led by former President Ram Nath Kovind. While CII has endorsed the notion of holding elections every two and a half years as a backup plan, Ficci remains steadfast in her demand for a single poll every five years for the Union, states, and local administrations.<br />
“Multiple elections at different levels and at different times are severely limiting our ability to conduct business.Due to the many norms of behavior for these elections, commerce and industry suffer greatly from the government’s unavoidable decision-making slowness. This also deters governments from implementing the required changes,” Ficci general secretary Shailesh Pathak wrote to the committee after last week’s meeting.<br />
It has said that governments should be elected with a majority for a term of five years, and that if the majority is lost, there should be a specified amount of time—say, ten days—to seek a vote of confidence for a different party. “If no group can claim majority, then mid-term elections should take place only for the remaining term,” Ficci said.<br />
The lobby organization claimed that the model code of conduct caused the suspension of governance and development operations in 2014 for over seven months, citing a Niti Aayog study to support their claim. It was predicted that fewer elections may result in savings of between Rs 7,500 crore and Rs 12,000 crore.<br />
The proposal also suggests that voters cast their ballots at the closest polling place and use the domestic technology-based ‘India Stack’ to compile electoral rolls, rather than the laborious present method.<br />
The rival chamber CII, which addressed the panel previously, has indicated that it wants a common election to be held in both 2012 and 2018. It has also contended that the model code of conduct has a negative impact on infrastructure projects during the planning phase, since every election causes government workers to be absent for almost two months. “Months before to and after the elections, the private sector is hesitant to invest. The same is true for public investments, which have an impact on employment and livelihoods, general development, and economic activity “it said.<br />
It went on to say that in addition to the loss of one productive day every election, there is financial harm as employees often take time off from work to cast their ballots, which is frequently not the case. “Simultaneous elections can reduce the overall expenditure incurred on general as well as state legislatures, making it more cost-effective and at the same time there are less days of productive work that are lost due to multiple elections,” stated the CII.</p>
