Let Democracy prevail

            In Indian democracy people elect government and so the governments have the legitimacy of people. The elected governments have the power to make laws and take administrative decisions which come under its ambit according to the constitution. From the very definition of democracy elected governments draw the authority to ‘administer the people’ from the people itself. So this concludes that the elected governments gain defacto (real or original) power in the subjects it is entitled to. The real power is attained from the feature “democracy” itself. So stripping a government of defacto powers of popularly elected government by higher government who enjoys dejure (nominal and legal) powers is against democracy.

           In Delhi people elected government so that they will be ruled by it. If the government of Delhi do not have the defacto powers in its sphere then what is the use of electing it by people. As it is elected by people Delhi government draws the authority from the people who have elected it and not by the debate whether it is union territory or state.

           Constitution i) allows minimal coordination in the whole nation, ii) specifies who has the power to make decision in a society, iii) limits the power of government, iv)fulfill the aspirations of society and v) expresses the fundamental identity of people(Indian). Constitution of India draws its legitimacy from people as they consensually accept it.

             Delhi High court has pronounced a verdict that Delhi being union territory the final authority rests with lieutenant governor. This interpretation is reflection of constitution specifying who has the power to make decisions but not reflecting the people’s legitimacy on it. This is an interpretation of constitution rather than the aspirations of people from whom the constitution draws it’s authority from. People of Delhi wanted to be ruled by a government of their choice(in the subjects it is entitled to do). People of delhi have elected a government to rule them for 5 years. Constitution says they are to be ruled by some other (LG) whom the people of Delhi have never endorsed. Here constitution is against the wishes of people. As lieutenant governor is taking over defacto power in every decision of government it reflects that he is against the wishes of the people. This results in decrease of legitimacy of constitution by the people. It is not good for the nation to take the authority on the people by saying constitution has granted me to rule over you. This is belittling constitution. Let democracy prevail.

Simultaneous elections bringing good governance is an illusion

             Central government is mulling over conducting simultaneous elections to Loksabha and State Legislative Assembly. In the wake of strong pitch for simultaneous elections by prime minister and his colleagues, this article discusses the menace of such changes.

Regional party dominance will continue

         We have seen the foraying of regional parties in Loksabha and continuous formation of coalition governments in centre from 1989 onwards expect on this occasion. The state government has garnered an increase in interest and acceptance right after 1975 emergency and various surveys like that of centre for study of developing societies(CSDS) shows us these trends. CSDS shows a rise of interest in state government from 18.9 percent to 25.6 percent from 1971 to 1999. This is even higer now. If simultaneous elections are conducted the regional parties will have a greater dominance over the national parties as people receive benefits from welfare schemes of state government directly in most states like Tamilnadu, AP, Telangana, etc,. Dominance of regional parties in other states is inevitable.Except hindi speaking states almost all other states are dominated by regional parties. This trend cannot be reversed.

Digging it's own grave    

      There is a greater chance of increasing complexity of coalition politics at centre as cross-voting during simultaneous elections is negligible even in urban areas. The stability of central government will be in jeopardy and thus become a threat to governance. From where can this good governance come with unstable governments?  It may save money and resources for conducting elections but leads to uncertainty of existence of central government. Apart from this we will have technical problems like if central government loses majority should the state governments be dissolved and if a state fails to form a government or loses majority then who rules the state legitimately for the residual term.

Central Government pondering of simultaneous election is like cutting the bark of the tree on which it is sitting.

               As the nation is moving towards decentralization simultaneous election is more a threat to relevance of union government rather than federalism. As dominance of regional parties increases, decentralization speeds up and central government may remain as a puppet of state governments. This limits centre to a mere transactor rather than a transformator. Governance will be replaced by transactions with state governments. Bringing good governance will be a myth.

Save central government

       If any change have to be made simultaneous elections must be avoided completely. No election to state assembly must be simultaneous to Loksabha elections and Elections to state assemblies must not occur before or within nine months of Loksabha elections. State assemblies to which elections take place simultaneously with Loksabha must be rescheduled accordingly. If centre tries to dominate states it's nothing but digging it's own grave.