One Nation One Election is a concept that proposes to conduct Lok Sabha elections and State Assembly across the nation concurrently. The proposal will be to have all the main elections on a common schedule as opposed to other states conducting elections every few months. The rationale behind this idea is that regular elections upset the running of government, impose an expensive financial cost on the government and necessitate massive security operations over and over.
Under the existing system, state assemblies have elections in India at various periods due to varying five year cycles of each state. This implies that the Election Commision, the police force, and administrative personnel are constantly engaged in the election duties. When the elections occur, the government officials get distracted in their usual business, the development projects get halted and the Model Code of Conduct is enforced that temporarily limits the announcement of new policies. The advocates of One Nation One Election feel that when both the national and state governments have one election period, the interruptions would be minimized.
The other significant advantage usually mentioned is cost. Organizing independent elections necessitates printing of millions of ballots, establishment of polling stations and transporting equipment and securing forces every time. A joint election would cut down such unnecessary costs. Political parties would also use fewer resources to carry out campaigns, as they would not be called on to mobilise resources severally.
And the other one is the political stability. Among parties there is continuous campaign when the election occurs frequently. This will divert attention that is long-term governance and promote short-term commitments that will induce victory in future polls. A synchronized election process would leave the governments with a clear five years plan to work without the constant political scrutiny.
Nevertheless, there are also difficulties associated with the concept. In case a state government is overthrown by a no-confidence motion, it is complex how to proceed with an election cycle. Reinstating terms of all the states would demand constitutional amendments, regional coordination and great politics.
In plain words, One Nation One Election is concerned with simplification of the election process in India to save time, save money by minimizing the costs and letting the governments concentrate more on development. However, on one hand, the idea has very apparent benefits, it still requires thorough planning and consent of all the stakeholders before it can be put into effect.