AT A time when voices are being raised for fixed-term assemblies, it was unfair to dissolve the Haryana Assembly pre-maturely before the completion of its normal term of five years.

A system should be formulated whereby instead of having frequent elections in the country, sometimes separated by a couple of months; all regular or by-elections in any part of the country may be held simultaneously in a particular month selected after taking into consideration all practical aspects like weather, crop, festivals, and examinations. The terms of assemblies expiring up to one year before or after the ‘election-month’ may have automatic extension or reduction of up to one year in order to accommodate simultaneous elections.

Fixed-term legislatures can be ensured by the election of chief ministers via secret and compulsory votes of all MLAs on nominations signed by at least one-third of the MLAs through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Such an elected chief minister may only be removed by a no-confidence motion passed in the same manner but with the compulsion to name an alternate leader in the same motion.