In a big political development, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to dissolve the state assembly to make way for early elections. According to India Today report, CM KCR submitted his government’s recommendation for dissolving the assembly and relinquished his role as the chief minister of the state.
KCR informed about his decision to Telangana Governor ESL Narsimhan. The Governor accepted the resignation of KCR and appointed him as the caretaker chief minister of the state.
This means that elections will take place in Telangana within six months. Earlier, elections in Telangana were scheduled to take place in May 2019. But now, it looks like Telangana will go to early polls along with four other states- Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Mizoram in November-December this year.
Earlier on Sunday, while addressing a public meeting at Kongara Kalan in the outskirts of Hyderabad, KCR had dropped enough hints of an early assembly election in the state.
This year in June also, after his meeting with PM Modi, KCR had said, “We are ready for advance elections. Even people are ready for advance elections. I ask the Congress and other opposition parties to tell whether they are ready. If we go for elections, it will reveal whose strength is what and where each party stands.” He had also added, “If Opposition parties don’t stop mudslinging on the TRS government, then we will be forced to go to polls to prove who the people are behind. That day is not very far off.”
There is also an advantage for KCR in holding early elections. The Congress is the main opposition to ruling TRS in Telangana. With Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Chhattisgarh being fought alongside, the Congress will not be able to invest enough energy and resources in Telangana because their primary goal would be to defeat the BJP in other BJP ruling states. So, it might end up benefiting KCR. His decision is also a step towards his commitment to PM Modi’s One Nation One Election or simultaneous election dream. KCR backed PM Modi’s effort of electoral reform. This is a big step towards PM Modi’s One Nation One Election is coming from a non-BJP leader and that’s why BJP also does not have any problem with KCR’s move. The BJP National President Amit Shah had said, “KCR has the right to dissolve the Assembly whenever he wants to, it is his prerogative. What can we do?”
Not just KCR, the supremo of the Biju Janata Dal and Chief Minister of Odisha- Naveen Patnaik– has also urged Election Commission to hold simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the Odisha Assembly. Earlier also, many times he had endorsed PM Modi’s idea of holding simultaneous elections. If, Naveen Patnaik also performs similar political stunt like KCR then we would witness six states going to polls at the same time. Possibility of J&K going to polls at the same cannot be ignored considering the fact that there is Governor’s rule in the state. If it happens then the number of states going to polls would become seven. Earlier, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath has also backed the novel idea of simultaneous elections mooted by PM Modi. Though next assembly elections in UP are going to be held in 2022 it has been gathered that Yogi government is willing to go for simultaneous elections along with the Lok Sabha elections in May 2019. CM Yogi is fully committed to simultaneous polls, along with Madhya Pradesh government; he had constituted a committee to look into the possibility of this idea.
Read the details of Committee report in detail here: UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath backs PM Modi’s one nation one election idea
If, UP also decides to go for early elections, then the number of state going to early polls would be eight. Considering the fact that UP is electorally one of the most important states and the incumbent government has yet not even completed its three years, and move of going early elections might motivate other states to dissolve their state assembly and support simultaneous elections. Many other parties such as Shiromani Akali Dal, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Samajwadi Party have supported the idea of One Nation One Election. Bihar Chief Minister and BJP ally Nitish Kumar also supported simultaneous elections on ideological ground.
PM Modi has been strongly campaigning for the One Nation One Election. As we are all aware that India is always in an election mode. Every year one or the other state is ready for an election and this 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 this novel idea of simultaneous elections in order to rid India from this cycle of wastage. In April, a BJP study on the idea of ‘one nation, one election’ had submitted its report to PM Modi. This has come after PM Modi asked the BJP leaders and its cadres to initiate deliberations on the matter, so that a consensus could be reached. The report had suggested innovative and welcome modifications to deal with the issues of by-polls and mid-term polls. 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.
‘One nation, one election’ 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. Idea of simultaneous elections is not new. In fact, first few elections in the history of India were simultaneous elections. And now, the BJP is trying its level best to revive the same old practice again because it has so many benefits as stated above. By seeing such a massive support for One Nation One Election, there is a huge possibility that BJP might dissolve Lok Sabha before the completion of its five year term and might go for early elections.
Despite having so many pros, parties like the Congress are against holding simultaneous elections. Maybe because they have apprehensions about their winning chances in the 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. In fact, Telangana leaders of the Congress opposed KCR’s move. The senior Congress leader M Shashidhar Reddy said, “We will request the EC not to club the Telangana polls with the elections to four states in December and delay them so that time is available for us to ensure voters’ lists are not doctored.” Earlier in August, Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi had 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. It has become a hobby of Congress party to oppose each and everything which is in the interest of the nation be it Rafale deal, demonetization and now One Nation One Election.
The conditions are slowly becoming conducive for One Nation One Election and keeping the politics aside other parties should also support this novel initiative as it is in the interest of the nation. It will bring about several benefits to the country as stated above.