State political parties oppose ‘one nation, one election’ plan

Political parties in Punjab have opposed the “one nation, one election” scheme proposed by the BJP-led Union Government.

Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, on Saturday, described it as a direct assault on the fundamental structure and spirit of the Constitution.

After attending a meeting convened by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) under the chairmanship of PP Choudhary, Cheema said he, along with AAP state president Aman Arora, rejected the move as it was a hidden agenda designed to destroy the federal structure of the nation.

Referring to the amendments in the proposed Bill, Cheema said these would render the tenures of state assemblies subject to the discretion of the Centre. He said the Bill would further encourage the misuse of Articles 356 and 360 by the Centre.

As per provisions, if the Election Commission is of the opinion that the elections to any Assembly cannot be conducted along with the General Election, it may make a recommendation to the President, to declare by an order, that the election to that Assembly may be conducted at a later date.

Cheema said the BJP’s “one nation, one election” concept would ultimately backfire as it would enable the Centre to conduct state elections at its convenience.

Punjab Congress leaders put up a case against the idea of “one nation, one election” during a meeting with members of the committee set up by the government for the purpose. State party chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said party leaders told the committee that the idea went against the basic concept of federalism.

He said parliamentary and assembly elections were held on entirely different issues and the idea of imposing simultaneous elections to Parliament and state assemblies would mean imposing dictatorship by default. The regional and local issues, which get prominence during the assembly elections, would be ignored and crushed, he said.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) urged the JPC to recommend dissolution of Article 356, which, it said, was the root cause of disruption of simultaneous elections in the country. A party delegation told the JPC that in case Article 356 was not done away with, the election schedule would be disrupted again. It also opposed the insertion of Article 82-A Clause-5, which empowered the Election Commission to defer elections to assemblies, on the ground that the provision could be misused against Opposition parties anytime.

Punjab