Elections are big-budget affairs, simultaneous polls will save money: Govt

Elections have become a “big budget affair” and holding simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies would result in huge savings to the exchequer, the government said on Thursday.

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said the need for simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies has been felt as polls have become “big budget affairs and expensive”. In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, he said the Law Commission in its report on Reforms in Electoral Laws had suggested simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies for the sake of stability in governance.

‘Saving money, effort’

“Simultaneous elections would result in huge savings to the public exchequer, avoidance of replication of effort on part of administrative and law and order machinery in holding repeated elections and bring considerable savings to political parties and candidates in their election campaigns,” Rijiju said.

Simultaneous polls would also curb the adverse effect due to prolonged enforcement of Model Code of Conduct due to asynchronous Lok Sabha and state assembly elections, he added.

Elections to the Lok Sabha and all state legislative assemblies were held simultaneously in 1951-52, 1957, 1962 and 1967. However, due to the premature dissolution of some legislative assemblies in 1968 and 1969, the cycle got disrupted. 

With agency inputs