A Joint Parliamentary Committee is presently considering the draft bill on “One Nation, One Election” (ONOE). India is a unique parliamentary democracy with a Constitution including both unitary and federal features encompassed in a Union of States. The main rationales for suggesting ONOE are time and cost savings. Since these factors are applicable globally, a scanning of international practices may have a certain utility in reaching an informed decision.

ONOE discussions were part of the 79th report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on personnel, public grievances, and law and justice. It cited two cases from across the globe—South Africa and Sweden—of simultaneous elections for the federal and state parliaments/assemblies. The high-level committee on ONOE, which submitted its report last year, cited four more cases—Germany, Belgium, Indonesia and the Philippines.

At the outset it is important to understand that in the presidential forms of government people vote directly to elect a president and/or a state governor, and his/her position is not incumbent on his/her party having a majority in the Parliament or State Assembly as is the case for prime ministers and chief ministers. The US is the model that readily comes to mind for fixed date and tenure elections, though it needs to be noted that not all US states vote for their governors at the same time as the presidential elections, which are held on the first Tuesday of November every four years. On another note, it bears noting that elections to the House of Representatives in the US Congress and state assemblies are held every two years. Given the US’s tradition of primaries, the country is practically in election mode every other year, something which India wishes to avoid through ONOE.

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