Reacting to the “One Nation One Election” report submitted by the high-level panel headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, the Congress said that panel’s aim was to dismantle the Constitution, with the objective of ‘one nation, no election’.
In its report of over 18,000 pages submitted to President Droupadi Murmu, the panel recommended simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and State Assemblies as the first step, followed by synchronised local body polls within 100 days.
“The Prime Minister’s objective is very clear, he is going around asking for a clear majority, two-thirds majority, 400 seats, and the cat is out of the bag. They want to completely dismantle Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution and with what objective -- ‘one nation, no election’, that is what they want,” said Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh.
‘Federalism’s death knell’
The other opposition parties also reacted sharply to the report. All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi said that frequent elections keep governments on their toes. “There are many constitutional issues with One Nation One Election, but the worst is that governments will no more have to worry about people’s fury for five years. It will be the death knell for Indian federalism. It will convert India into a one party state,” Mr. Owaisi posted on X.
The panel has also recommended the preparation of a common electoral roll and voter ID cards by the Election Commission of India, in consultation with State election authorities.
Communist Party of India general secretary D. Raja said that his party does not agree with the proposal. “This is not at all practical in a country like India with our multi-party democracy. What we should be discussing instead is comprehensive electoral reforms. This is just a sinister design to introduce a presidential form of government,” Mr. Raja said.
