Frequent polls impedes development: President’s maiden address

President Kovind’s address marked the opening of the budget session on Monday. He advocated simultaneous elections at the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for the betterment of the judicial process. This was with special reference to getting the Triple Talaq bill passed. But what would it mean for decisions to be taken at different levels?

The address

In his speech, on Monday, the president delivered some interesting ideas. He called for a ‘New India’  which would place ’empowerment’ over ‘appeasement’ as part of India’s growth trajectory. The efforts made in India for socio-economic development of the minorities were also covered. President Kovind mentioned the efforts made by the government to improve the farmers’ conditions. He also laid emphasis on a new-found respect for India on the global front. Pushing for simultaneous polls, he said,

“Frequent elections not only entail more burden on human resources, imposition of model code also impedes the development process” – President Ram Nath Kovind

This is the foundation and building blocks of the ‘one nation, one election‘ move on part of the central government. The possibility of holding simultaneous polls in December 2018 was also raised. But he emphasized that all the parties would have to unite in the effort. Among other schemes, he spoke about the Jan Dhan Yojna, the allowance of women over 45 to undertake Haj without a male accompany. He discussed the anti-terror reforms of the country too. His position on the GST, was that the government was working to integrate the country economically.

Implications for the nation

The idea of simultaneous elections has also brought criticism against the centre. This is not surprising. The reason why there is room for criticism is the fact that it shows increased centralization by the government. It limits the voter’s power. The voter’s only power in the game of politics is his or her power to vote. If the number of times the voter has to vote is reduced, then there is very little room for the voter to exercise their power.

Both Modi and Kovind have backed the idea of simultaneous polls, but this also means there’s less opportunity for the voter to exercise their right. It could be tried perhaps, but in the long run, one can’t tell if it will sustain. It would require infrastructure on a large scale. Not only that, people would only get to vote once reducing their chances for change and questioning the government. It’s important that all factors are looked at before such decisions are made.