Friday, 20 September 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Uttarakhand Congress has rejected the concept of ‘one nation one election’ by terming it as impractical and an attempt by the ruling BJP to divert attention from real issues.
The leader of opposition (LoP) in the State assembly Yashpal Arya said that the Election Commission finds it difficult to conduct Assembly elections in the four states simultaneously, then how will it be able to conduct simultaneous Lok Sabha, Assembly and local body elections in the entire country simultaneously? He added that 362 votes are required to pass this constitutional amendment act in the Lok Sabha and the NDA has only 293 votes.
Arya said that the constitution gives powers to President and Governor to dissolve Lok Sabha and Assembly respectively even before their term of five years. “Under Article 352, in the event of war, external aggression or armed rebellion, the term of the Lok Sabha can be extended by imposing national emergency. Similarly, under Article 356, President’s rule can be imposed in the states and in such a situation, due to unexpected reversal in the political equation of the concerned state, the possibility of re-election arises. All these circumstances are completely opposite to the one nation one election concept,’’ he said.
Arya added that the concept will also increase the threat to the diversity of the democracy and its federal structure. “The formats and issues of Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections are completely different. By conducting simultaneous elections, local issues may get overshadowed by national issues. Similarly the national issues may lose their existence in front of regional issues,’’ he said.
The chief spokesperson of Uttarakhand Congress Garima Dasauni said that the one nation one election will make the leaders and political activists inactive. She also rejected the notion that staggered elections affect the GDP of the country.
