Simultaneous polls: BJP, Cong skip law panel meet

NEWDELHI: The main ruling party at the Centre, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the principal opposition party, the Congress, were conspicuous by their absence at the consultations between political parties and the Law Commission of India that began on Saturday over a proposal to hold simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly elections.

National Democratic Alliance constituent Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Tamil Nadu’s ruling party, have supported the idea but with riders, and are in favour of simultaneous polls being implemented from 2024, a senior official said after the series of meetings.

Other parties which met the law panel officials, including the Trinamool Congress, All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM), All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and Goa Forward Party, during the day have strongly opposed the proposal, the official added on condition of anonymity.

Kalyan Banerjee, Lok Sabha MP and Trinamool Congress chief whip in the house, said: “You can’t have such simultaneous elections in a federal structure. Let’s say there is simultaneous election in 2019 and then, after a year, the government falls. Does it mean that all states will also go for a fresh poll?”

Goa Forward Party is a BJP ally but told the panel that holding parallel Lok Sabha and state assembly polls will be to the disadvantage of the regional parties.

A number of smaller parties from the ruling coalition and the opposition are participating in the deliberations.