All together now, get the scale of it right
Union cabinet's approval for 'one nation, one poll' has set the ball rolling for what is, indeed, an ambitious venture. If the proposal is passed by Parliament, India will join an exclusive club. Only three countries — Belgium, Sweden and South Africa — have ONOP.
As is obvious by this list, almost all challenges lie in managing scale.
ONOP isn't new to us. The first two decades of the Indian republic conducted simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections. Till realpolitik caught up with democracy.
Benefits from cost, accountability, even governance are obvious — on paper. But a foolproof plan with backups and contingencies to scenarios, such as a government unable to complete its term, are critical. And then there's implementation.
This is India with its scale, spread and multiplicity one is talking about. And the reality of personnel and institutional coherence is often overlooked or underplayed in such grand plans. EC has shown year after year, its capability and capacity.
But ONOP is a different ball game of a different scale and order. Ensuring the seamless movement of EC personnel and central forces for the entire electoral process, dealing with complaints, violations of model code of conduct, ensuring that EVMs are available and geared for the 2-3 sets of voting, all have to be hardwired into ONOP. Voter awareness is another big ask — ensuring that all voters are able to grasp, and transition to, a system to register their choice of central, state and local mandates.
India has pulled off many seemingly impossible efforts, such as vaccinating almost its entire population against Covid.
