Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (file photo)Narendra Modi's detractors say the PM is always in campaign mode and that Modi, the showman, gets an adrenaline rush on seeing large crowds. In modern times, only Rajiv Gandhi was more frenetic than Modi in election campaigning.
But now, it seems Modi himself is exasperated with constant invites for campaigning. He has also mooted a formula that if elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies could be held simultaneously, leaders of national parties would not be distracted so much.
After the Lok Sabha polls, Modi has campaigned relentlessly in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkand, Delhi and Bihar. Now, his party expects him to show the same energy in the Assembly polls being held in five states.
Modi has addressed more rallies for State Assembly elections in two years than what Manmohan Singh did in ten years as prime minister. Several national leaders earlier have mooted that simultaneous elections are the only solution for eliminating political corruption, as parties need to mobilise funds only once in five years.
BJP's own nominee, former vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, was a strong advocate of simultaneous elections and has sought backing of leaders of various political parties to support an amendment in the Constitution for that.
Another believer in the concept was former PM I.K. Gujral, who even prepared a concept note that enforced a five year term for Lok Sabha and state Assemblies (only Jammu and Kashmir assembly has six year term). The note argued that the president and governor should have no powers to dissolve the Lok Sabha or Assemblies.
Gujral's line of thought was that if a government lost majority, then the Lok Sabha or the Assembly should find an alternate government by majority of the existing members. The PM or CM who lost majority would continue in office until an alternative leader was elected, even if it takes months. Shekhawat also wanted by-elections to be eliminated.
If the vacancy arose due to death, resignation or disqualification, the party which won the constituency in the polls should nominate a new member. If a vacancy was of an independent member, then that seat would remain vacant till the next general election.
But the idea of Gujral and Shekhawat, and similar proposals of former President R.Venkataraman in 1980s, was not accepted by the political class. The regional parties that win assembly elections on local issues and personalities did not want to get swamped by a national party that was also fighting for control of Lok Sabha.
If simultaneous elections had been held for Assemblies in 2014, the Modi wave would have dislodged opposition governments in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra, Assam and Karnataka.
Political parties agree that governance suffers a lot during the protracted period of the model code of conduct during each election, but they argue that the tenure of the model code should be shorter.
Many parties also want deletion of several provisions of the model code, which gives enormous veto powers to the Election Commission.
Since any change would be possible only through a constitutional amendment passed with two thirds majority by Parliament and full support of state Assemblies, Modi will have to get on campaign mode again as more elections are due in 2017 and 2018, before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
