Polls at one go not possible: EC

Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of holding simultaneous electins in the near future. A day after BJP president Amit Shah wrote to the Law Commission that the idea of “One nation, one election” can be implemented, the poll panel said parallel polls are not possible without a legal framework and insisted that any extension or curtailment of the term of State Assemblies will require a constitutional amendment.

Responding to a query on whether simultaneous elections can be held anytime soon, the CEC said if the term of some State Assemblies needs to be curtailed or extended, a constitutional amendment will be required. “Logistics arrangements with regard to 100 per cent availability of VVPATs (paper trail machines) will be a constraint. Rawat clarified that it may not be possible without amending the Constitution.

“It is feasible, although it is mostly hypothetical. If there is no provision under the Constitution, the commission cannot do anything about it,” explained the CEC.

“On the issue of ‘One Nation, One Poll’, the Election Commission had given inputs and suggestions in 2015 itself... Other requirements of additional police force, polling personnel would also be needed,” he said.

The CEC said the EC would continue to deliver its responsibility of conducting elections whenever term of the State Assemblies comes to an end. On Monday, talking informally to mediapersons, a senior BJP leader floated the idea that election to at least 11 State Assemblies could be held together with the Lok Sabha polls by deferring elections to Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Mizoram, and advancing polls of States like Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra Assemblies to club them for simultaneous voting along with Lok Sabha polls. While the term of Mizoram Assembly will expire in December, the term of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh Assemblies are scheduled to end in January.

“One nation, one election” idea has been supported by various political parties, including the Janata Dal (United), the Samajwadi Party, the Biju Janata Dal, the AIADMK, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, while the Congress, the TMC and the CPI have opposed the proposal. In the working paper, the EC had proposed a series of Constitutional and other amendments to the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951, and the Rules of Procedure to make way for “One nation, one election”.

It is estimated that 34 lakh ballot units, 26 lakh control units and 27 lakh VVPAT (voter-verifiable paper audit trail) machines would be needed. The EC cannot place an order for additional machines without necessary legal framework. This needs required changes in the relevant laws, including amendments to the Constitution.

After the legal framework sanctions the simultaneous polls, the EC has to assess the additional requirement of EVMs and VVPAT units and present a budget to the Government for procuring the additionally required machines and then have to place an order with the manufacturers. Only after this long procedure, the manufacturers will start the production. With very little time for 2019 general elections, the chances of simultaneous polls look bleak.

The EC is in the process of procuring new EVMs and VVPATs ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. While all required EVMs — 13.95 lakh ballot units and 9.3 lakh control units — will be delivered by September 30, 16.15 lakh VVPATs will also be delivered well before the end of November, Rawat had said.

Over 11 per cent of the 10,300 VVPAT machines across 10 States had developed faults and had to be replaced during the May 28 bypolls.

If simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies are held in 2019, the EC will require nearly 24 lakh EVMs, double the number required to hold only the Parliamentary polls. During their discussion with the Law Commission on May 16 on the issue of holding simultaneous polls, the EC officials had said they would need around Rs 4,500 crore to buy nearly 12 lakh additional electronic voting machines (EVMs) and an equal number voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines. The estimate was based on the current cost to procure the devices.