2019 Elections in India: Why is PM Modi Demanding Simultaneous Elections?

As the 2019 Elections in India are closing in, the BJP Led Modi Government is pushing its agenda of simultaneous elections. The Narendra Modi government wants that elections for the Lok Sabha and all the State Legislative Assemblies should be held simultaneously. Is the Modi Government perturbed by the alliance of the opposition for 2019 Election in India? 

BJP supremo Amit Shah wrote a letter to the Law Commission on Monday batting for BJP’s cause of simultaneous elections. Amit Shah has written in the letter that because of elections one after the other in different states the development work often gets stalled.

The demand for simultaneous elections in India is not new and debate over this issue has persisted since 1983. The Elections Commission of India first suggested the idea of one nation one pole in 1983.

Amit Shah wrote in the letter that simultaneous elections will lead to cut in the election expenditure which is usually high because of frequent elections. The BJP chief mentioned figures of the expenditures born by the union government during elections and stated that the expenditures were only increasing.

The notion of simultaneous elections in India also finds support from the President of India. Even the previous President had raised concerns over frequent elections and had called for a constructive debate on the issue of simultaneous elections.

If India agrees to hold simultaneous elections then it would not be for the first time that India will witness combined elections for the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies. India has held simultaneous elections in 1951, 1957, 1962 and 1967. Simultaneous elections were then discontinued as the state assemblies were dissolved prematurely.

Amid a declining popularity and challenges in terms of economic reforms, does the demand for simultaneous elections reflects Modi government’s nervousness? Narendra Modi will face a litmus test for his policies in 2019 and his charm seems to be withering?

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