AIMIM says - Voters should not be treated as “rubber stamps” ::::: “No place for Simultaneous elections in India," insists Congress

In order to synchronise the terms of the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies and to hold simultaneous polls, the Kovind panel says that the President of India could issue a notification on the date of the first sitting of the newly-formed Lok Sabha after the general elections to enforce Article 82 A (1). 

This date of the notification will be called the “Appointed date”. The notification can say -- “…all the Legislative Assemblies constituted in any general election held after the appointed date shall come to an end on the expiry of the full term of the House of the People (Lok Sabha),” the panel recommends.

This could mean -- the tenure of all state assemblies would henceforth come to an end on the expiry of the full term of the Lok Sabha.

New Delhi 

Only the BJP and its ally, the NPP of Conrad Sangma were  two national parties to back 

the concept of One Nation, One Election.  

The Congress party opposed the move and said the Simultaneous polls would 

“subvert parliamentary democracy”.

On 'saving' on the cost of conducting repeated elections, the Congress said -- “the people will be willing to 

consider this small amount as the cost of free and fair elections to uphold democracy”.

The Congress, which attended a meeting with the Kovind panel in person, also maintained that there was “no place for the concept of simultaneous elections in a country that has adopted a Parliamentary system of government”.

The NPF, which is supporting the Rio government in Nagaland, and is also backing the Modi-government and Biren Singh government in Manipur has opposed simultaneous polls.

The CPI(M), in its response on December 7, 2023, objected “to the manner in which the concept of simultaneous elections was being sought to be imposed”. It called the concept “fundamentally anti-democratic”. 

The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool which has held on to power in West Bengal against a spirited challenge from the BJP in 2021, contended that 'forcing states' into premature elections for the sake of contemporaneity would be “unconstitutional” and ultimately lead to “suppression of state issues”.

The AAP submitted its response to the panel on January 18 this year, followed by personal interaction on February 8. In its response, the AAP said the move would “institutionalise a Presidential form of government which cannot be dislodged by a vote of no-confidence".

The AIMIM, the Hyderabad-based party, said that elections were not mere formalities, and voters should not be treated as “rubber stamps”. 

 The parties those supported simultaneous elections include the BJP, NPP of Meghalaya, AIADMK; 

BJP allies All Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU), Apna Dal (Soneylal), Asom Gana Parishad, Lok Janshakti Party (R),

the National Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP of Nagaland),

Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, Mizo National Front (MNF) and United People’s Party Liberal of Assam and JD(U), which recently returned to the NDA fold.

The Biju Janata Dal of Odisha; Shiv Sena (Shinde faction of which is with the NDA); and Akali Dal in Punjab also supported the Simultaneous polls.

The Kovind panel had sought opinion from 62 political parties in all, and held in-person interaction with 18 parties.

Out of the 47 political parties which gave their opinion to the Ram Nath Kovind-led panel on simultaneous elections, 32 supported the idea, whereas 15 opposed it. 

The prominent parties which did not respond to the panel were the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) of Telangana, IUML, National Conference, JD(S), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Kerala Congress (M), NCP, RJD, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the YSRCP.

The TDP and the RLD also did not participate or share their views but both are now the BJP allies. 

The 'One Nation, One Election' means all Indians will vote in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections - to pick central and state representatives - in the same year, if not at the same time.

At present, there are a few that vote for a new state government at the same time as the country selects a new union government.

Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Odisha are scheduled to vote at the same time as the April/May with the Lok Sabha elections.

Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana will vote later this year by October.

The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has to hold its first Assembly election in six years before September 30, in line with the recent Supreme Court order on restoration of statehood. So can polls be advanced in these four provinces. Except Jharkhand, the BJP can ensure holding of polls in three provinces including Jammu and Kashmir.

Blogger 

Karnataka voted in May 2023. The States Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Telangana voted in November last year.

Earlier 2003, three northeastern states Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura also went for polls to elect their respective legislature. In 2022, there were elections in UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab Goa and Manipur.  

In April-May 2021, state assembly polls were held in Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal.

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