Majority says simultaneous elections won't cause confusion among voters: News18 Pulse

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A majority of people have said that holding Lok Sabha and state elections on the same day will not create confusion among the voters, a survey by Network18 has found.

According to the survey "News18 Pulse: One Nation, One Election", nearly 56% of the respondents said that simultaneous elections will not be confusing for the voters while over 36% said that it will create confusion. About 8% said they were not sure.

The survey revealed that 8 in 10 respondents supported the idea of "One Nation, One Election" (ONOE), indicating that a large majority of Indians are in favour of the proposal moved by the Centre.

One of the criticisms that emerged during the ongoing debate on ONOE was that it would be confusing for the voters to cast their ballot for the national and state election on the same day.

Former prime minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda had said that simultaneous polls would create confusion among the voters. "I have my own apprehensions about it. I feel we are not so advanced," he had said earlier.

According to the Network18 survey, a majority of the people are confident that it will not be confusing, with nearly 50% of them saying that they won't face problems in differentiating between candidates and parties at national and state levels.

Over 72% of the respondents said that holding all elections on the same day will actually improve the voter turnout in the country. A majority of the people (71.6%) also believe that simultaneous elections will help align national and regional issues, leading to better policy decisions.

The survey was conducted by Network18 across 29 states and UTs of India covering a sample pool of 4,573 people. 73.7 per cent of them were male while 26.3 per cent were female, with almost two-thirds of the respondents belonging to urban areas.

A majority (80.8 per cent) of the respondents also believe that fewer elections will reduce disruptions to day-to-day life, like rallies and campaigns causing traffic jams, schools being closed, among other things.

The bills, titled ‘The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024’ and ‘The Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024’, were tabled in Parliament amid fiery debate between the Treasury and Opposition benches. They were introduced with 269 votes in favour and 198 against. The bills were later sent to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for a thorough scrutiny.

The first meeting of the 39-member JPC on ‘One Nation, One Election’ is likely to take place on January 8.