Electoral choice of simultaneous elections is better for the economy and the country as a whole, the chairman of the previous 15th Finance Commission, said at the launch of Isaac Centre for Public Policy at the Ashoka University in Bengaluru on Saturday. The Centre has come up on a grant of Rs 100 crore from Quess Corp founder Ajit Isaac and Sarah Isaac couple and is led by former IMF advisor Prachi Mishra.
The 83-year old former Rajya Sabha member expressed surprise at the U-turns performed by some politicians who in the past had strongly favoured the idea, but were now opposed to it on the pretext that “times have changed.”
Singh did not agree with the argument that simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies were a threat to India’s federal structure, wondering if the structure did not survive till 1967 when the country had just one set of polls.
In Maharashtra alone, there has been one election or the other in one part or the other in the state in 303 days a year. In such a situation, how could anyone focus on improving the quality of governance, he wondered.
He shared a conversation he had with an employer in the South who said his workers in Kerala were mostly from Bihar and they go to their state four times in less than five years just to cast their votes. It meant additional costs for poor labourers on travels necessitated by polls at frequent intervals. Singh acknowledged one nation one election was a big challenge, but he said he remained optimistic despite political divisions.
