BJP CMs told to vouch for one nation, one poll

In a meeting with BJP Chief Ministers on February 28, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may discuss holding simultaneous elections in the country. BJP national general secretary Bhupender Yadav has written to Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States to arrive at consensus on the idea of ‘one nation, one election,’ and also sought them to bring Opposition leaders on board on the issue.

The BJP leader’s communication to the BJP CMs has come close to Prime Minister’s repeated stress on holding simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections so that country does not lose development momentum on account of frequent imposition of moral code of conduct and disruption of governance.

With the Lok Sabha polls less than one-and-a-half years away, the ongoing debate has fuelled speculation that the Government could think of advancing general elections together with Assembly polls of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh  and Mizoram by the year-end.

Though no firm feelers have come from the Government on this account, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad  recently told Congress workers in a meeting that they should be ready for Lok Sabha polls by November end.

Pursuing the objective of recommending simultaneous elections in the country, a Parliamentary Standing Committee  headed by  Yadav had  recently  held its meeting to further narrow down the  discussions  and firm up views to enable it to submit its report by the Monsoon session of  Parliament.

The panel, which has 10 Rajya Sabha members and 20 Lok Sabha members, deliberated the important issue which has also been flagged by the Prime Minister and favoured by the Election Commission (EC).

According to sources, Left and other regional parties have opposed the idea of one-nation-one-poll as they feel that it would undermine their interests with national issues dominating and wiping out regional and local issues.

Members felt that exercise of simultaneous polls would require synchronisation of Lok Sabha and State Assemblies polls and “it is not happening soon but now an exercise has begun”, they said.

In the February 28 meeting with party CMs, Modi and party chief Amit Shah will review public welfare schemes as it gears up for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The Government and the EC believe that the one-time poll in the country will  reduce the poll  expenditure, currently pegged at Rs 4,500 crore , as also save the country from continuous disruption of  administrative and development work .

A section of ruling party members  think  that to begin with  the polls could also be held  in two phases first in the East and West and secondly in North and South India.