00:00 I am Pragya and I bring to you excerpts from the latest issue of Outlook.
00:04 One Nation, One Election, One Nation, Many People.
00:08 The issue brings to you diverse debate and points of view on the idea of One Nation and
00:13 One Election.
00:14 One Nation, One Predilection by Aditya Sondhi.
00:17 He is a senior advocate with the Supreme Court of India.
00:20 This move is questionable as it assumes or even aspires that people vote the same way
00:26 in state and national elections.
00:28 Under our constitution, the state governments are elected for five years, unless they fall
00:33 in the interregnum or early elections are called and the assembly is dissolved.
00:38 In such circumstances, chief ministers continue on a caretaker basis or president's rule is
00:43 imposed till the time fresh elections can be held.
00:47 The proposed One Nation, One Election affects this paradigm threefold.
00:51 First, it results in deferring elections in such states where elections are now due.
00:57 Till such time, the cutoff date is finalized for the single national election and gives
01:01 such states an extended period in power.
01:04 Secondly, this cuts short terms of governments in states where the five-year period elapses
01:10 after the cutoff date.
01:11 Third, and most serious, should governments fall, there would be long periods of unelected
01:17 powers in place.
01:18 These scenarios acutely affect our democratic traditions and lead to questions as to the
01:23 constitutionality of One Nation, One Election.
01:27 Democracy and federalism have been recognized as part of the basic structure of the constitution,
01:33 and One Nation, One Election must not offend either to remain valid.
01:38 The proposal for One Election is accompanied in time by the move to introduce uniform civil
01:43 code, but skirts other pressing electoral reforms such as codifying the right to vote
01:49 as a fundamental right, making political parties amenable to the Right to Information Act,
01:55 introducing greater internal party democracy, reviewing the system of anonymous electoral
02:00 bonds, doing away with post-poll alliances, and revisiting the first-past-the-post model.
02:06 The corresponding electoral reform that is on the anvil is a Central Election Commission
02:11 and other election commissioners' bill, 2023, which provides for the top trusts of
02:16 the election commission to be appointed on the recommendation of a three-member selection
02:21 committee with the Prime Minister and a nominated Cabinet Minister in majority.
02:27 This necessarily raises questions as to its independence from the political influence.
02:32 The fact that such an election commission will then monitor and oversee One Nation,
02:37 One Election is further cause for alarm.
02:39 For these and more, read the current issue of Outlook.
02:42 [MUSIC]
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