CHENNAI: The ruling DMK on Wednesday termed as illegal the high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind to examine the possibility of conducting simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, State Assemblies, municipalities, and panchayats. The committee should immediately stop seeking views on the One Nation One Election idea, failing which the party will be forced to take appropriate legal recourse, the DMK warned while responding to the panel’s letter dated January 1, 2024.
Stating that the DMK had already registered its strong opposition to the BJP government’s proposal, the party, in its letter, said, “After this, there was no communication from the Law Commission for a direct hearing... Besides, the follow-up action on this subject was also not conveyed.”
Amending the Constitution to hold simultaneous elections to the various democratic setups would snatch away the rights given to the states.
“This is a dangerous idea which will have a serious impact on centre-state relations. Besides, it would also have an impact on the union government. The high-level committee should not intend to satisfy the BJP government which is power-hungry. The committee should not support the attempts of a party which has a majority in Parliament to destabilise or modify the Constitution which ensures equal opportunity to all,” the DMK added.
The DMK said the Law Commission, in 2022, sought views on conducting simultaneous polls to Assemblies and the Lok Sabha. Now, the union government has extended the panel’s terms of reference to seek views on conducting simultaneous polls to municipalities and panchayats as well, it said.
Move against federal principle: DMK
“This move is against the federal principle since local bodies come under the purview of the States and lead the country to the presidential form of rule,” the DMK added.
“The Constitution has clearly said that the Parliament can enact legislation only on subjects where it has jurisdiction. Since conducting elections to municipalities and village panchayats are in the state list, the high-level committee has no powers to study simultaneous elections to these local bodies along with State Assemblies and the Lok Sabha,” the DMK added.
Categorically conveying that the One Nation One Poll idea is impractical, the DMK said that it is against the basic structure of the Constitution.
“Implementation of One Nation, One Poll would lead to the dissolution of state assemblies. If the party which is in power in the union government loses its majority, the government will fall. Such occasions will hinder the implementation of the One Nation One Poll. This idea will weaken the democratic process and this will not ensure an equal platform for national parties and state parties at the hustings. Simultaneous elections to local bodies along with Lok Sabha and state assemblies will have serious impacts on the rural people,” the DMK pointed out.
Besides, the implementation of the One Nation One Poll idea would warrant increasing the number of Election Commissioners, infrastructure, etc to 10-fold while the number of officials should be increased to three to five times from the present strength. Since such an exercise would cause huge expenditure, this idea is an impractical one.
Further, the Election Commission of India does not have enough EVMs to hold simultaneous elections to village panchayats, municipalities, State Assemblies, and the Lok Sabha.
The government would have to spend lakhs of crores of rupees on this. As such, this idea will not save election costs, the DMK said.
