The Congress party has vehemently opposed the idea of One Nation One Election (ONOE). The congress party’s delegation met law commission on Friday and maintained that the concept of ONOE is against the basic structure of Indian Federalism. The party also said that ending or extending the terms of assemblies is also not in compliance with the basic structure of Indian federalism. The Congress party delegation was comprised of senior congress leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge, P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Anand Sharma and JD Seelam. They presented party’s view on conducting simultaneous polls in the country. Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi delivered the main presentation on behalf of the Congress party. He said, “The proposal of simultaneous election dressed up with fancy phrases such as ‘one nation, one election’ is antithetical to democracy. It is nothing but another example of authoritarianism and dictatorship.” Last month also he had attacked the concept of ONOE by calling it “constitutional perversity and preposterous”.
It looks like Abhishek Manu Singhvi is unaware of the fact that first few elections in the history of India were simultaneous elections. Is Congress party trying to say that alleged ‘golden era’ of Nehru was against the basic structure of federalism, a constitutional perversity, antithetical to democracy, and a dictatorship? Congress party needs to answer this. Nation won’t tolerate such an insult of alleged maker of modern India, who allegedly discovered India through his book ‘Discovery of India’.
It seems that major political parties are divided on the issue of One Nation One Election (ONOE). Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiromani Akali Dal, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Samajwadi Party, Biju Janta Dal and Telangana Rashtra Samithi have supported the idea of holding simultaneous elections. On the other hand, the Congress, Trinamool Congress, AamAadmi Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Telugu Desam Party, Left parties and Janata Dal (Secular) are vehemently against the proposal.
As we are all aware that India is always in election mode and the entire process consumes a lot of time and resources. This not only affects governance but also developmental works. In order to save India from this vicious cycle of election, PM Modi pitched an idea of ONOE , which means elections to Lok Sabha, Legislative Assemblies of 29 states and 2 union territories would be conducted in one go. The idea ONOE has been a dream of PM Modi.
NITI Aayog had also come out with a report which criticized the present model that leads to frequent elections. It is a known fact that due to frequent elections almost all parties remain in election mode giving rise to populist measures with an intention to appease the voters. Frequent elections not only lead to avoidable division of administrative resources and security personnel but also create a prolific atmosphere for caste and religion politics to perpetuate.
ONOE will not only help in reducing excess expenditure of taxpayers’ money on holding frequent elections but will also allow the elected government to focus on the fundamentals of governance. When elections won’t be the primary concern, the government will be able to undertake and execute mid-term/ long-term projects with complete freedom, without having to weigh the pros and cons at every step.
Despite having so many pros, parties like the Congress are against holding simultaneous elections. Maybe because they have apprehensions about their winning chances in electoral battle. The Congress knows that the party will perform much more badly at the state level if the entire issue is going to be a mandate based on PM Modi’s performance.
It’s really sad to see political parties like Congress, which claims that its leaders sacrificed their lives for the country, today has become so selfish that it is thinking about only itself and opposing a proposal like ONOE which is completely in the benefit of the country. They are blatantly disregarding the history and employing every major to impede the progress India is making.
