“Simultaneous election to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies will limit the amount of time and money spent in electioneering but it will reduce the government’s accountability to the people.” Discuss.

Simultaneous elections — One Nation, One Election — would sync Lok Sabha and State Assembly polls, an idea revived by the High-Level Committee under Ram Nath Kovind (2024) and the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024.

Savings in Time and Money

• Election spending is enormous — the 2019 Lok Sabha poll alone was estimated at around ₹55,000-60,000 crore (CMS); consolidated polls avoid repeated outlays by parties and the exchequer.
• The Model Code of Conduct's recurring freeze on new schemes ends, governance escapes permanent campaign mode, and security forces and teachers face fewer repeated deployments.

The Accountability Cost

• Staggered elections work as continuous mid-term referendums; a rigid five-year cycle weakens this ongoing check on governments.
• An IDFC Institute study found a roughly 77 per cent chance that voters choose the same party for State and Centre when polls coincide — national waves can drown State-specific issues, eroding federal diversity.
• Fixed terms collide with parliamentary logic: no-confidence motions, hung Houses and Article 356 can force premature dissolution, requiring truncated terms that dilute the promised savings.

The efficiency gains are real but must not be bought with reduced answerability. Safeguards such as the constructive vote of no-confidence, consensus with States, and phased synchronisation — as the Law Commission's 2018 draft report suggested — should precede any switch.