Congress, AAP oppose proposal for ‘one nation, one poll’ at meet
The city BJP today supported the idea of ‘One Nation, One Election (ONOE)’ while the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party opposed the proposal before the Joint Parliamentary Committee, which sought suggestions and opinions of political parties.
A delegation of the Chandigarh Congress opposed the proposal before the committee. Jatinder Bhatia, Achhe Lal Gaur, Haji Zahid Parvez Khan, Harmeil Kesari, Rajdeep Sidhu and Gurdarshan Singh were part of the city Congress delegation.
A delegation of the Aam Aadmi Party also opposed the proposal before the committee.
City AAP chief Vijay Pal Singh, general secretary Omkar Singh Aulakh, disciplinary committee convener PP Ghai, advocate Ferry Soft and media incharge Vikrant A Tanwar participated in the discussion and highlighted the constitutional, political and social risks the proposal came with.
Vijay Pal emphasised that while the ONOE might appear attractive at first glance, its deeper impact was toxic and threatened the very core values of the Indian Constitution. He said, “Our current electoral system has functioned smoothly for decades. There is no pressing need to replace it. Implementing the ONOE would require massive resources — EVMs, security forces, staff and infrastructure — which is impractical and unsustainable.”
City BJP president Jatinder Pal Malhotra extended strong support to the concept of ONOE, calling it a “visionary step towards a more efficient and stable democracy”.
Malhotra emphasised that holding simultaneous elections across the country would lead to significant saving of time and resources. “Frequent elections hamper the pace of development and overburden administrative and security machinery. A synchronised electoral system would streamline governance and policy implementation,” he said.
He urged all political parties to rise above partisan interests and seriously consider the idea of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which was rooted in national interest and long-term democratic reform.
Chandigarh