PM Calls For ‘One Nation One Election’

The Prime Minister had called for an all-party meet on ‘one nation, one election’.

Relevance of the News: It highlights the concept of one election for the country i.e. simultaneous elections for centre, states and local bodies.

One Nation One Election:

Ahead of the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha, PM addressed leaders of the Opposition at an all-party meeting. All party meeting is convened at the beginning of every session to ensure smooth functioning of the parliament.
The meeting has been called to discuss “one nation, one election” issue along with other issues of national importance.
Simultaneous elections refer to holding elections to Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies, Panchayats and Urban local bodies simultaneously, once in five years.

Challenges Associated with Simultaneous Elections:

Achieving political consensus for this idea seems to be difficult.
Regional parties will be more opposed to the idea than national parties because there is always a tendency for voters to vote the same party in power in the state and at the Centre in case the Lok Sabha polls and the state elections are held together.
If implemented the plan will get disrupted every time a state assembly is dissolved in the midst of 5 years which will again distort the alignment of centre and state elections.