In the early 1980s Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India. A minister in her cabinet, Basant Sathe was mulling a Presidential form of government in India by floating the idea as a trial balloon.  

It made perfect sense for Congress Party then as Indira Gandhi was the undisputed leader of Congress and India. There was nobody, neither in her party nor outside close to her stature. All the opposition parties unitedly pooh-poohed the idea opposing it tooth and nail for the obvious reason. Not a single leader then was in a position to be a counterweight to Indira at nation level. The idea remained stillborn.  

Congress must be breathing easy now as the concept of a Presidential form of government never saw the day, remaining a non-starter. Now I wonder if the constitution ever changed to that effect then BJP would be reaping the benefits now. Vajpayee could have won in 2004 rather than losing it if India had a Presidential form of government. 

In this context, though not a big fan of BJP, I still like the idea of "One Nation, One Election" brought by the Modi led BJP government at the center. Yes, the motive isn't entirely altruistic. Yes, BJP sees political advantage in it as though India isn't a Presidential form of government, it has a single popular leader in Narendra Modi who runs more like an American Presidential candidate leaving his closest rival Rahul Gandhi far behind. It thinks as divided opposition is trying to unite now, by advancing the elections to winter of this year will put the nascent opposition unity on backfoot. 

But if you think without any bias or malice to anyone holding both Parliament and Assembly Elections together has some long term benefits. Here is why. 

Firstly, it is economically viable to do both  together at one time. It saves a lot of tax player's money, time and energy. In one shot get done with both and don't bother until next 5 years. 

Secondly, as being suggested it the "One Election" is planned between the months of November to February when the weather is salubrious in most parts of the country. Although it is winter in North India they would prefer to campaign and toil to vote in December than toil in 45 degrees heat of May. 

A multi party committee has been formed to look into this. Let's see how it goes.