4

Sep

Why a ‘Special Session’ of Parliament

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New Delhi, September 04, 2023

" No Valid Reason for Modi's One Nation One Election Initiative "

Dr Satish Misra

On August 31 when people’s attention was focused on the two-day meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) the Modi government annouunced to divert the popular attention when Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Prahlad Joshi posted on X (formerly Twitter) that there will a ‘special session’ of Parliament from September 18 to 22.

While Joshi further wrote that there will be five sittings “Amid Amrit Kaal” saying look forward to having fruitful discussion and debate in Parliament, but he remained silent on the either the purpose or the objective of the exercise. People guessed and fervently began to speculate about the agenda of the so acclaimed ‘special session’.

A day after even as people, WhatsApp groups and other social media platforms were gesticulating about the purpose of the special session, the government floated “one nation, one election” balloon to keep the attention away from the ongoing meeting of the opposition parties in Mumbai.

It was on Friday, September 1, that the PTI quoted “government sources” as saying a committee headed by former President Ramnath Kovind had been formed to explore the possibility of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

There was no official notification but for an oral observation by a minister in response to a media person’s question. Neither did the government deny. It was crystal clear to all discerning citizens that the immediate objective of both special session and one nation, one election was to grab attention and to “manage the news cycle”.

Eventually on Saturday, the government announced an eight-member committee chaired by former President Kovind to study and examine the issue of simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

It can’t be a sheer coincidence that BJP president J P Nadda and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had met Kovind in the same week while the government was planning its moves. By appointing a former president to head a committee, the Modi government has once again departed from constitutional traditions and conventions which had clearly put restraints on retired head of the state that he or she shall remain non-partisan. By agreeing to head a government appointed committee on a contentious issue on which political parties are divided, Kovind has departed from the past traditions and has allowed himself to be used for narrow political and partisan ends.

Composition of the committee betrays that it has been formed with pre-determined agenda and not to examine the issue. Former Secretary General of the Lok Sabha Subhash C Kashyap, who is one of the members of the committee, has been a strong votary of the idea of simultaneous polls.

 Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, lone representation of the opposition in the Committee, declined to join it saying that it is an “eyewash”. In his letter to Home Minister Amit Shah, Chowdhury said he cannot be part of the committee, the “terms of reference” of which “have been prepared in a manner to guarantee its conclusions.   

Terms of reference in the official notification were prefaced by the observation that the issue of simultaneous polls was in the “national interest”. The notification said that the Committee will “examine and recommend” measures to achieve this.  

Despite ‘one nation, one election’ being very dear to Prime Minister Modi and his ideological mentor- the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh. Modi has been talking about it for many years, timing of the issue make intentions suspect. It is clear that next Lok Sabha elections are not going to be simultaneous because it would require constitutional amendment and enactment of a law.

One of the main arguments extended by the proponents of the idea which consists mainly consist of the RSS and the BJP that present system does not allow the government of the day to focus on governance. At the same time, holding elections round the year is a colossal waste of money, proponents of the idea claim.  

Both of these arguments are tenuous because the will of the people is crucial to the functioning of the democracy. Therefore it is important that a government that has lost the confidence of people must step down to seek a fresh mandate. People elect a government to govern and it is the responsibility of the elected government to work efficiently and not extend excuses.

Today, ruling parties are more bothered about winning elections and retaining power then governing. Every party, particularly the BJP under Modi, is more keen to retain power at any cost then serving people.

So far the argument of waste of money goes, it falls on a close scrutiny. The money that is spent on conducting elections is people’s money collected through various taxes. If their own money cannot be used to know their will, then it is surely an insult to country’s voters. Moreover, money spent goes into public circulation benefitting common citizens. Even black money comes into circulation during elections times.                                

Not only this, logistics of holding the Lok Sabha election along with state assemblies are too complex and huge that it would be humanly impossible to put a machinery in place for conducting elections latest by March-April next year.

Even if it could be presumed for theoretical purposes that it was feasible, the proposal of simultaneous polls in against the spirit of the Constitution which is essentially federal in character. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has already stated that the idea of ‘one nation, one election’ was an attack on the Indian Union and all its states.

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