Siddaramaiah Criticises ‘One Nation, One Election’ Proposal, Calls It Confusing
BENGALURU: The ‘One Nation, One Election’ proposal approved by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday drew flak from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who termed the approval by the Narendra Modi led Central Government of trying to create confusion among the people and to cover up its failures.
In a statement here, the Chief Minister observed that for a new electoral system to be implemented, amendments must first be made to the Representation of People’s Act. In addition, at least five chapters of the Constitution would be needed to be amended. Under the present political scenario, he stated Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would find it difficult to get the necessary support of its allies to pass Constitutional amendments.
“Our current Election Commission does not have the capacity or resources to conduct simultaneous elections for both the Lok Sabha and to the State assemblies across the country.
For the new electoral system, he said, the electoral system would need to be expanded to double its current capacity and such a thing cannot be done in a haste. The Chief Minister stated the Congress party will oppose the proposal both inside and outside the Parliament and doubted the proposal of having hidden agenda of the ruling BJP at the Centre. “The public opinion across the country is also against the ‘One Nation, One Election’ system.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition R. Ashok reminded the Chief Minister “You had welcomed and supported the idea of simultaneous elections in 2016” and stated “We are aware that you have your own compulsions to toe the line of Congress high command and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.”