NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday strongly pitched for holding simultaneous Lok Sabha, Assembly and local body polls, saying the relentless electoral cycle harms the federal structure, besides costing money and affecting government works.
In an interview to a news channel, he said like festivals, election schedule should be fixed so that all polls are held within a limited period, enabling the Centre and state governments to focus on governance for five years.
“Like festivals, elections too should be held during a fixed time,” Modi said. He cited the example of Holi festival during which people throw colour and even mud at each other, but it is done only that day.
He also batted for having a single electoral roll for Lok Sabha, Assembly and local body polls.
He said only his party cannot implement the idea and that all parties will have to join hands to do so. To a question, he said the agenda of simultaneous polls does not belong to the BJP or Modi, but everyone must come together and brainstorm.
He also referred to deployment of bureaucrats as observers during elections and security personnel in polls across the country which, he added, can be minimised by holding simultaneous polls.
Asked if his government, which will present its final full-fledged budget on February 1, was getting ready for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Modi said it was not about budget or elections and that his dispensation was focussed on development.