Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress chief, said the Congress party does not support the One Nation, One Election measure proposed by the government. (Image: PTI)
Congress’ Kharge and AIMIM chief Owaisi said they do not support one nation, one election proposed by the Kovind-panel.
As the cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday adopted the report submitted by the panel of Ram Nath Kovind on ‘One Nation, One Election’, the opposition parties were quick to express their displeasure over the plan.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said that the government’s plan for one single election ‘cannot work in a democracy’. “Elections need to be held as and when required if we want our democracy to survive. We don’t stand with this,” he said.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief, Asaduddin Owaisi, said ‘One Nation, One Poll’ is ‘a solution in search of a problem’.
“I have consistently opposed One Nation, One Election because it is a solution in search of a problem. It destroys federalism and compromises democracy, which are part of the basic structure of the constitution,” he said.
“Multiple elections aren’t a problem for anyone except Modi and Shah. Just because they have a compulsive need to campaign in even municipal & local body elections does not mean that we need simultaneous polls. Frequent and periodic elections improve democratic accountability,” he said.
The former president-led panel in its report had said Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Aam Aadmi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI (M)), Communist Party of India (CPI), Trinamool Congress, AIMIM, and Samajwadi Party were against the proposal.
However, BSP supremo Mayawati said she backed the One Nation, One Election move in a social media post.
The report said that 47 political parties provided feedback, with 32 agreeing and 15 indicating disagreement with simultaneous elections while 15 political parties ‘did not respond despite requests for suggestions and reminders given to them’.
Another Congress leader and also its spokesperson, Supriya Shrinate, said that the government is using the ‘One Nation, One Election’ as a tool to ‘divert attention’ from issues affecting the nation.
“One Nation, One Election is impractical and unrealistic. Many experts have pointed out that under the current Constitution, this cannot be taken forward. When Parliament meets we must get details on this. If it is pushed, then we need to study the consequences,” CPI’s D Raja said.
