New Delhi: Invoking fears of simultaneous elections leading to “dictatorship” and a “death knell for federalism”, opposition events Thursday rang alarm bells over the panel led by former President Ram Nath Kovind advocating for the transfer in its report submitted to President Droupadi Murmu.
“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 Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution, with what objective? One nation, no election — that’s what they want,” Congress normal secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh told the media.
According to the report submitted by the panel Thursday, it had approached 62 political events for his or her opinion on simultaneous polls and 47 had responded. As many as 32 events have been in assist of the proposal, whereas 15 have been in opposition to it.
Apart from the Congress, its ally in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena (UBT), too got here out strongly in opposition to the proposal in a rally in Guhagar in Ratnagiri district. Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray asserted that the “one nation, one election” idea was a transfer in the direction of dictatorship.
In the south, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi, whose get together has opposed the proposal and met the committee final month, termed the proposal a “death knell for Indian federalism”.
“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,” the Hyderabad MP said on social media, including: “It (the move) will convert India into a one-party state.”
SP chief Fakhrul Hasan Chand informed the media that “in a country like ours, ‘one nation, one election’ seems impossible”.
The panel’s report has mentioned that events supporting the proposal have advocated for simultaneous polls for “saving scarce resources, protecting social harmony, and stimulating economic development”.
On the opposite hand, those that are against the concept have raised apprehensions that “its adoption could violate the basic structure of the Constitution, be anti-democratic and anti-federal, marginalise regional parties, encourage the dominance of national parties, and result in a presidential form of government”.
Apart from the Congress, the proposal has been opposed by three nationwide events, together with the AAP, CPI(M) and the BSP. The BJP and NPP are the 2 nationwide events among the many 32 in assist of the concept.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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