Congress, other Opposition parties oppose one nation, one election

The Opposition parties have spoken against ‘one nation, one election’ initiative of the Modi government cleared by Union Cabinet on Wednesday, with Congress rejecting it on the grounds that the simultaneous polls move is not practical in a democracy and has been brought in to divert attention from real issues.

Interestingly, among the Opposition parties, UP-based Samajwradi Party seconded the simultaneous poll move but wanted an all party discussion on the issue.

However, Congress party said that the move is an attempt by the BJP to divert attention from real issues. “It is not practical. It will not work. When elections come, and they are not getting any issues to raise, then they divert attention from real issues,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said reacting to the Cabinet decision.

Later, he also shared his views in a post on X, and said, one nation, one election is just a BJP issue to divert attention. “This is against the Constitution, this is contrary to democracy, this is against federalism. The country will never accept this,” he said.

A day before, former Union Minister in the UPA regime, P Chidambaram stated that the Modi government does not have enough numbers in Parliament to push through at least five Constitutional amendments required to end elections to Lok Sabha, State Assemblies and corporations at different times. It cannot happen in this regime of the BJP-led NDA government due to lack of adequate numbers in both the Houses of Parliament, the Congress leader said on Tuesday.

As per Ram Nath Kovind panel report, 32 political parties had supported the simultaneous poll move to get rid the country of a status of being in perpetual election mode while 15 opposed it.

The high-level committee in its report had recommended simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies as the first step followed by synchronised local body polls within 100 days. It had also proposed setting up of an implementation group to look into execution of the recommendations made by the committee.

Samajwadi Party leader Ravidas Malhotra said, “...If BJP wants to implement one nation, one election, then it should call an all-party meeting on national presidents of all Opposition parties and leaders of different political parties in Lok Sabha. We do want simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the country.”

Threat to federalism

Rastriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha stated that the country always had one nation, one election and after 1962, this system broke as the single-party dominance ended and many regional parties formed the government in the States.

“Now, if a government falls, what will you do? will you bring presidential rule? Will you run the government through governor till the next election?.. These people are pro in decorative things to deviate people’s minds from fundamental issues.. They are trying to crush the soul of the federal structure, they will be finished but this diversity will remain,” Jha stated.

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan charged that the concept of one nation, one election is a hidden agenda aimed at weakening India’s federal structure and granting the central government absolute power. “It seems that the BJP has not learned any lessons from the setbacks they faced in the last Lok Sabha elections. The central government has given approval to the Ram Nath Kovind committee report shortly after Home Minister Amit Shah announced that the single election scheme would be implemented during the current term of the government,” he said.

“The Sangh Parivar is making a covert effort to move India’s electoral politics toward a presidential system. The slogan one nation, one election has been devised to dismantle the diverse nature of Indian Parliamentary democracy. Each State in India has its own unique circumstances and background. Ignoring these differences and mechanically conducting elections without considering the political issues arising in the States would either result in forced central rule or undermine the people’s mandate, ultimately destroying democracy. The democratic community of the country must stand up against the Sangh Parivar’s attempts to subvert the Parliamentary democratic system of India and the very idea of India itself,” he said.

A spokesperson of the JMM, the ruling party of Jharkhand, Supriyo Bhattacharya says, “This country is run by federal structure. These decisions are pushing us towards imperialism. It’s neither possible nor practical... It’s an attack on the Constitution...”