The Election Commission has indicated that both procedural issues and a lack of adequate election machinery might be hurdles to a proposed plan to hold simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and all the State Assemblies.
Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat told news agency ANI that ensuring 100 per cent availability of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines will be a constraint for holding simultaneous polls.
He said the Commission had given its “inputs and suggestions” related to the proposal in 2015. He further explained that if the terms of some State assemblies needed to be curtailed or extended, then a Constitutional amendment will be required. “Other requirements of additional police force, polling personnel will also be needed. The Commission will continue to deliver its responsibility of conducting elections whenever the term of a State Assembly comes to an end,” he added.
Rawat was speaking a day after BJP President Amit Shah wrote to the Chairman of the Law Commission that holding simultaneous polls “was not only a concept, but a principle which can be implemented”.
Shah maintained that holding simultaneous polls will check expenditure and ensure that the nation is not in “election mode” all throughout the year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several of his Cabinet colleagues have often spoken about its advantages.
In January, in his joint address to Parliament, President Ram Nath Kovind also backed the idea. “…a sustained debate is required on the subject of simultaneous elections and all political parties need to arrive at a consensus on this issue.”