Political stunt, flop: Opposition after One Nation One Election gets Cabinet nod

The Opposition hit out at the BJP-led government over the Union Cabinet's approval of One Nation, One Election, accusing it of hatching a conspiracy to finish off regional parties and called the move a "political stunt".

In Short

• Opposition accuses BJP of destroying regional parties with One Nation One Election
• One Nation One Election gets Union Cabinet approval earlier today
• It is aimed at holding simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections

Several opposition parties on Wednesday slammed the government over the Union Cabinet's approval of One Nation One Election, aimed at conducting simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, and called it a "political stunt" while asserting that the measure would "flop".

The One Nation One Election proposal got approval after the report of the high-level committee, which was headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, was placed before the Union Cabinet earlier today.

AAP leader Sandeep Pathak called One Nation One Election a 'jumla' (false promise) and took a jibe at the BJP for not being able to conduct elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir together.

"This is yet another jumla of the BJP and is destined to flop. They were not able to conduct elections in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana together. Like the three farm laws, One Nation One Election was brought in without consultation," he said.

"We are asking them to hold Delhi polls with Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Prove yourself first. If the government collapses in any state in the middle of its tenure, will the BJP run the state through its gundagardi, he alleged.

Voicing similar sentiments, RJD leader Mrityunjay Tiwari said the One Nation, One Election was a political stunt and alleged that the BJP was hatching a conspiracy to finish off regional parties through the proposed measure.

"This is a political stunt, but this is not practical. Several experts have given their views on this. However, the government wants to destroy the regional parties and this will create a constitutional crisis," Tiwari said.

"Any such decision done without prior consultation with the stakeholders concerned is destined to lack merit," he told India Today TV, adding that the BJP was attempting to "tamper" with the Constitution.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said One Nation One Election "cannot work in a democracy".

"We don't stand with this. One Nation One Election cannot work in a democracy. Elections need to be held as and when required if we want our democracy to survive," he said.

JMM MP Mahua Maji alleged that the BJP wanted only one party to rule the country and accused it of breaking regional parties.

"The BJP has been trying this for long and it wants only one party to rule the country. Recently, they broke NCP and Shiv Sena, while BJD has been nearly wiped out in Odisha. Similarly, they are trying to destroy the JMM in Jharkhand and they will try to destroy the regional parties using One Nation One Election," she said.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said that One Nation One Election "destroys federalism and compromises democracy" and asserted that frequent and periodic polls improve democratic accountability.

"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. Multiple elections aren’t a problem for anyone except (Narendra) Modi and (Amit) Shah. Just because they have a compulsive need to campaign in even municipal and local body elections does not mean that we need simultaneous polls. Frequent and periodic elections improve democratic accountability," he tweeted.

ABOUT ONE NATION ONE ELECTION

The Modi 2.0 government had constituted the Ram Nath Kovind-led panel to examine the feasibility of simultaneous elections, one of the key promises made by the BJP in its Lok Sabha poll manifesto. The panel submitted its report to the President in March this year.

In its voluminous 18,626-page report, the committee has suggested simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies as the first step. For this, the approval of states is not required for the constitutional amendment.

The next step involves synchronising elections to municipalities and the panchayats with polls to Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. This will be done in such a way that local body elections are held within 100 days of general elections. This will, however, require ratification by not less than one-half of the states.

A bill for holding simultaneous polls is likely to be introduced in the upcoming winter session of Parliament, sources told India Today TV.

(with inputs from PTI and Aditya Vaibhav)