Instead of scheduling simultaneous elections to the Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat Assemblies in late 2017, the Election Commission held the Gujarat polls a month later in December, for obvious reasons. The argument that simultaneous elections will prevent corruption, and improve administrative efficiency has been dismissed as flimsy. The implications of holding simultaneous elections to the Parliament and State Assemblies run contrary to the spirit of democracy, as well as that of federalism. Arguments that juxtapose governance and democracy simply overlook the fact that governance is about administration, democracy is about popular sovereignty. In contemporary history, populist leaders have rallied people around the banner of good governance, but forgotten the D of democracy.

Source: The Hindu May 06, 2018 18:22 UTC