NEW DELHI: As the Law Commission continued its consultations with political parties on the feasibility of holding simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for the second consecutive day on Sunday, the BJP and the Congress remained absent.
Political parties including Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) opposed the idea of ‘One Nation One Poll’ while many others such as the Samajwadi Party (SP), Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) supported the proposal with some of words of caution.
During its meeting with the Law Commission, the SP said, the process of simultaneous elections should begin in 2019. Ram Gopal Yadav, SP general secretary said that action should be taken in case public representatives switch sides or indulge in horse-trading.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K Chandrashekhar Rao, in a letter to the Law panel, said, “TRS is strongly in favour of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the state Legislative Assemblies.”
DMK has opposed the proposal saying it will decimate the federal structure of the country. Party’s working president MK Stalin rejected the idea in a letter to Justice BS Chauhan, Chairman of the Law Commission of India, saying it is ‘useless’ to explore the possibility since it had already been completely rejected in a previous attempt during the previous NDA government.
Meanwhile, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) said, it is not against the proposal but certain practical and serious issues need to be addressed first.
Sources said the BJP has sought more time from the Commission to present its views while the Congress has said that it will consult other opposition parties on the issue before deciding its course of action.
Last week, the CPI (M) had told the Law Commission that holding Lok Sabha and Assembly polls together are inherently anti-democratic and negate the principles of federalism.