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The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for ‘one nation, one Election’ as recommended by the former President Ram Nath Kovind panel, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said .
The report of the high-level committee on ‘one nation, one election’ was placed before the Union Cabinet , reported PTI . The panel headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind had submitted the report in March ahead of the announcement of Lok Sabha elections.
Vaishnaw said the report was approved unanimously. Placing the report before the Cabinet was a part of the law ministry’s 100-day agenda. The high-level committee had recommended simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies as the first step followed by synchronised local body polls within 100 days.
The panel had also proposed setting up of an ‘Implementation Group’ to look into the execution of the recommendations made by the committee. The panel also recommended the preparation of a common electoral roll and voter ID cards by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in consultation with state election authorities. At present, the ECI is responsible for the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, while the local body polls for municipalities and panchayats are managed by state election commissions.
The panel recommended as many as 18 constitutional amendments, most of which will not need ratification by state Assemblies. However, these would require certain Constitution amendment Bills that would need to be passed by Parliament. Some proposed changes regarding the single electoral roll and single voter ID card would need ratification by at least half of the states.
REacting to the move , Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that ‘One Nation, One Election’ cannot work in a democracy.
He was responding to queries on the decision of the Union Cabinet to accept recommendations of the high-level committee on ‘One Nation, One Election’.
“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.
Congress leader KC Venugopal said that the proposal is not practical.
“It is not practical in this country. They want to divert attention from present issues,” he said.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O’Brien called ‘one nation, one election’ a “cheap stunt” of the BJP, and questioned why Maharashtra elections were not announced with Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir if the government wants simultaneous elections.
One nation, one election is just another cheap stunt by the anti-democratic BJP. Why were Maharashtra elections not announced along with elections in Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir?” O’Brien said.
“The Maharashtra government announced the Ladki Bahin scheme in the Budget this June. The first tranche reached the bank accounts of women in August and the second tranche will reach the beneficiaries in October,” he said.
“You can’t do three states in one go and you talk about one nation, one election,” he said.
