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Informist, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024

 

NEW DELHI – Following the Union Cabinet approving the One Nation, One Election Bill, the opposition parties slammed the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre and called the move anti-democratic and against the federal structure of the country. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called it an authoritarian imposition to undermine the country's democracy. According to a source, the Cabinet in its meeting cleared two bills – including one that will amend the Constitution to allow simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The government will seek to introduce the Bill in Parliament by next week, the source further said.

 

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader M.K. Stalin said the one nation, one election is an impractical and anti-democratic move, and it will erase regional voices. Stalin also said that the move will erode federalism, and disrupt governance in the country. "Let us resist this attack on Indian democracy with all our strength!" he said on X, formerly Twitter.

 

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee termed the move an "authoritarian imposition designed to undermine India's democracy and federal structure." She said that Trinamool Congress members in Parliament would oppose the Bill "tooth and nail". "The Union Cabinet has bulldozed their way through the unconstitutional and anti-federal One Nation, One Election Bill, ignoring every legitimate concern raised by experts and opposition leaders. Bengal will NEVER bow to Delhi's dictatorial whims. This fight is about saving India’s democracy from the clutches of autocracy," Banerjee said on X.

 

The Congress party, too, reiterated its opposition to the one nation one election Bill and called it against the federal structure and the Constitution of the country. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said that the Bill should be sent to the joint parliamentary committee after introduction in parliament. The Aam Aadmi Party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and several other opposition parties also expressed their opposition to the one nation, one election proposal.

 

In September, the Cabinet had approved the report submitted by a high-powered committee headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind, recommending the holding of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, state assemblies, and local bodies across the country.

 

The proposal has met with strong opposition across the political spectrum, with the Congress rejecting the idea outright and asserting that the proposal goes against the guarantees of federalism contained in the Constitution. "There is no place for the concept of simultaneous elections in a country that has adopted a parliamentary system of government," Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had said in a letter to the Kovind Committee Secretary Niten Chandra. End

 

Reported by Kuldeep Singh

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

 

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