One Nation One Election: How long have simultaneous elections been held in the country, and why are Lok Sabha and Assembly elections being held separately?

Posted on 19th Sep 2024 by rohit kumar

The discussion of 'One Country One Election' has started once again in the country. A committee was formed under the leadership of former President Ram Nath Kovind regarding this, whose report has now been approved. After the approval of the Union Cabinet, the government can present the proposal in the House in the upcoming winter session.

 

The Kovind Committee had also submitted its report to the President at the beginning of the year. This 18,626-page report prepared in 191 days states that from 2029, Lok Sabha and Assembly elections should be held simultaneously in the first phase in the country. After this, local body elections can be held in the second phase within 100 days. The Kovind Committee also said that simultaneous elections have been held between 1951 and 1967.

 

When were simultaneous elections held earlier?

 

After independence, elections were held for the first time in the country in 1951-52. Then along with the Lok Sabha, elections of the Legislative Assembly of all the states were also held. After this, simultaneous elections were held for Lok Sabha and state assemblies in 1957, 1962, and 1967. This trend was broken after 1968-69, as some assemblies were dissolved due to various reasons.

 

When the assembly was dissolved to hold simultaneous elections

 

According to the Kovind Committee report, the state of Andhra Pradesh was formed in 1953 by cutting the areas of Madras. At that time it had an assembly of 190 seats. The first state assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh were held in February 1955. The second general elections were held in 1957. In 1957, the term of seven state assemblies (Bihar, Bombay, Madras, Mysore, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal) did not end with the term of the Lok Sabha. All the state assemblies were dissolved so that simultaneous elections could be held. The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 was passed in 1956. A year later, the second general election was held in 1957.

 

Kerala was the first state where the state government was dismissed.

 

In the 1957 general election, the biggest blow to the Congress came from Kerala, located on the southern tip of the country. Here, the Communist Party of India emerged as a big challenge for the Congress. The challenge was such that this party ousted the Congress from power in the state. With this, 10 years after independence, Kerala became the first state where a non-Congress government came to power. In the state assembly elections held along with the Lok Sabha, the Left won 60 out of 126 seats in Kerala. With the support of five independent MLAs, the Left parties also secured a majority and EMS Namboodiripad became the first non-Congress Chief Minister of the country.

 

Historian Ramchandra Guha writes in his book 'India After Nehru' that this was the first victory of the communist ideology in the election of a big state of a big country. These results also raised many questions for the world moving towards the Cold War. Amidst many controversies, this non-Congress government of Kerala could not complete its term. After just two years, the EMS Namboodiripad government was dismissed. In 1960, fresh assembly elections were held in the state. The left parties suffered a huge defeat in these elections. Congress formed an alliance with the Socialist Party and the Muslim League in these elections. Nehru himself campaigned vigorously for this alliance. These elections became an election to select between democracy and communism. A record 84 percent of voting took place during the elections. The Socialist Party and Congress alliance registered a big victory. Congress got 60 seats while its allies won 31 seats. The left parties were reduced to just 26 seats. Another interesting thing happened after the results. Congress was the largest party in the 127-seat House, but PA Thanupillai of the Socialist Party became the Chief Minister.

When the Lok Sabha elections were not held along with the state assembly elections

Elections were held simultaneously from 1951 to 1967. There is an interesting story behind the first time Lok Sabha elections were held separately. It is about 1971. Indira Gandhi's government was at the center. Indira had split the Congress into two parts by rebelling against her party. There were 14 months left for the elections. Indira's new party Congress (R) wanted to get a fresh majority and implement its progressive reforms. Reforms that Indira had not been able to implement till now because of the old guards of the Congress. For this, Indira and her party decided to go for early elections.

 

With this, it was decided that the Lok Sabha elections would not be held along with the state assembly elections. Guha writes in the book 'India After Nehru' that by holding the general elections before time, the Prime Minister had cleverly distanced himself from the assembly elections. Guha writes that in the event of both the elections being held together, the feelings of caste and racialism would have affected the national issues. Congress had suffered a lot due to this in the 1967 elections. Especially in states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Odisha, local issues had a great impact. This time Indira decided that by holding general elections first, she would separate both these issues and seek direct support from the public based on national issues.

 

Opposition coined the slogan of Indira Hatao.

 

On the other hand, Congress (O), formed by the faction of senior Congress leaders, formed a grand alliance against Indira along with Jan Sangh, Swatantra Party, Samajwadi, and regional parties. This grand alliance campaigned against Indira. During this time, the slogan of Indira Hatao was coined by the opposition. Indira's Congress turned this slogan in its favor. In response to the opposition's slogan, Indira said that they say Indira Hatao, we say Garibi Hatao. Congress's slogan of 'Garibi Hatao' became popular among the public.

 

Indira put the difference between the new and old parties in front of the public.

 

Through the slogan of 'Garibi Hatao', Congress called itself progressive while the opposition was called a coalition of reactionary forces. By making the election person-centric, the opposition suffered losses instead of benefits. On the other hand, Indira took the command of the election campaign of the ruling party completely in her hands. From the dissolution of the Lok Sabha in December 1970 to the elections, Indira traveled more than 58 thousand km in 10 weeks. During this time, she addressed more than 300 election rallies. About two crore people heard her speech. At that time, Indira's election campaign and her political situation were compared with the election campaign and political situation of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1952.

 

In her speeches, Indira Gandhi openly put forth the difference between her new party and the old party before the public. In these speeches, Indira gave the message that the 'old Congress' was a puppet in the hands of conservatives and vested interests, while the 'new Congress' was dedicated to the interests of the poor. The organizational weakness of Indira's new party was overcome by the enthusiasm of young workers, who traveled across the country and spread the message of their leader. On the day of voting, the huge crowd gathered at the polling booths made it clear that people were full of new hopes to get rid of their problems.

 

The public rejected the Congress of the Old Guards.

When the results came out, Congress (R) won 352 seats out of 518 seats while the second-placed CPM could only get 25 seats. Another leftist party CPI won 23 seats and Jansangh won 22 seats. On the other hand, Congress (O), which contested the maximum number of 238 seats in the opposition alliance, had to be satisfied with just 16 seats. These results made it clear that the public completely rejected the Congress of the Old Guards with its conservative thinking. The huge margin of victory also made it clear that Indira Gandhi's Congress was the real Congress. Both the winners and losers of the results accepted that it was the victory of the same person. That person was Indira Gandhi.

 

Since 1952, Congress had been contesting elections with the election symbol of a pair of bulls. After the split in Congress in the 1971 elections, Indira Gandhi's Congress (R) contested with the election symbol of cow and calf. Indira Gandhi's Congress (R) which won the 1971 Lok Sabha elections later became Congress (I) and the party's election symbol became a hand. And then this 'I' was also removed from Congress (I). Later Congress (R) became Congress (I) and then Congress again.