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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking direction to the Centre and the Election Commission of India (ECI) to investigate the feasibility of holding elections to the House of People and Legislative Assemblies concurrently to 'save money and manpower and control election paralysis'.

A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad said, "We know our limits. We can't issue such mandamus."

The plea filed by Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay sought directions to the Centre and ECI to investigate the feasibility of holding elections on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays to save time for schools, colleges, universities, service industries, and manufacturing firms.

The plea stated that there are numerous benefits of holding Lok Sabha, Assembly, Panchayat, and Municipal elections concurrently. It would reduce the time and cost of conducting elections by reducing the use of paramilitary forces, government personnel on election duty, and Election Commission personnel organizing booths, electronic voting machines, voter slips, etc.

Upadhyay through his plea also sought directions to the Centre and ECI to take appropriate steps to implement the recommendations made by the Law Commission of India in its 170th report, which stated, " We must go back to the situation where the elections to Lok Sabha and all Legislative Assemblies are held at once”.

The plea stated that the decision to conduct all elections together would save money as the cost of campaigning for parties would be less. “The imposition of the Model Code of Conduct causes delays in the implementation of central and state government projects and welfare schemes, as well as diverts time and effort away from governance issues”, it added.

"As elections have become a big budget affair and expensive, the Law Commission of India in its 170th Report on Reform of Electoral Laws (1999) has suggested simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies for the sake of stability in governance. But the Centre and ECI did not take appropriate steps," the plea read.

The plea proposed that if the political parties reach an agreement, Assembly elections in 16 states- Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Telangana, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Haryana, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand could be held concurrently with the 2024 General Elections.

Case Title: Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v. Union of India & Others