Most parties say simultaneous elections will erode federalism

new delhi — A majority of regional parties that took part in a discussion on simultaneous polls on Sunday told the Law Commission that such an exercise would undermine the regional aspirations and erode the federal set up envisioned in the Constitution.

While a few including the Samajwadi Party and Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) supported the idea of ‘one-nation-one-election’, some like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) questioned the sincerity of the Centre towards poll reforms.

The parties that came to see the law panel on Sunday included the DMK, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), Samajwadi Party, TRS, JD-S and AAP. The Congress and the BJP were conspicuous by their absence on the second day of the discussions too.

Opposing the idea of simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and the

state legislatures, the TDP said the proposal was “impracticable” and “against the spirit of the Constitution and federal structure”.

“As per the Constitution, it is not possible and is impracticable. For simultaneous polls, either you have to extend or reduce the tenures of some state governments, which is against the spirit of the Constitution and federal structure,” party MP K. Ravindra Kumar said.

AAP’s Ashish Khetan, after

meeting the Law Commission, said that for simultaneous polls to happen, the Constitution of India will have to be “mutilated and rewritten completely”. “We are against the idea of the so-called one-nation-one-poll because it will turn India’s federal democracy into a managed democracy,” Khaitan said, adding that the proposal “reeked of a dictatorial mindset”.

Warning that simultaneous elections goes against the basic tenets of the Constitution, the DMK opposed the idea, saying it was unwarranted and practically not possible. “In sum, the present proposal of the Law Commission seems to be a complete misadventure that will decimate the federal structure. I respectfully submit my party’s whole hearted opposition to the proposal,” DMK working president M.K. Stalin said in writing.

Terming the Law Commissions consultations on simultaneous polls a “futile exercise”, the JD-S said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was just “testing the waters” through it with no real intentions of reforms in the electoral process. “This is a futile exercise. In a federal democracy you cannot think of simultaneous elections. If you want poll reforms, first and foremost, there must be a ceiling on expenditure by political parties during elections. But no one’s talking about it,” JD-S spokesman Danish Ali said. —