BJP makes strong pitch for simultaneous LS, Assembly polls

BJP is pushing for simultaneous polls in the Lok Sabha and 11 State Assemblies which are due for elections before the first half of 2019. The suggestion is that Governor's rule could be imposed in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram, after the current terms of their Assemblies end in December, till April-May when the Lok Sabha polls are due.

The current thought process within the party prevails even as party president Amit Shah on Monday wrote to the Law Commission pitching for one-nation-one-poll terming it to be not only a concept but also a principle which can be implemented.

Also, a Parliamentary panel, headed by BJP Rajya Sabha MP and Party General Secretary  Bhupendra Yadav, is already looking into the possibility of streamlining process of simultaneous polls in the nation.

Maharashtra and Haryana, where elections are slated later next year, could also be brought around the idea to dissolve their Assemblies six months prior to their tenure. Besides, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Arunachal Pradesh and Odisha are the other States, where Assembly elections are due along with those to the Lok Sabha in the first half of 2019.

The Yadav-headed  Standing Committee does not see one-nation-one-poll coming into effect any time soon as it feels a political consensus around the concept has to be arrived at before procedures are set in place to implement it.  Some of the MPs in the committee maintain that the idea may fructify by the time of 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

But according to sources in the Government, the  law need not be amended to bring a convergence in the timing of Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.

Election Commission has backed simultaneous poll to cut down huge expenditure as also to avoid frequent disruptions in governance which comes by way of imposition of model code of conduct and deployment of security forces and Government officials on poll duties.

Most of the Opposition parties have categorically rejected the  clubbing of the  Assembly polls with that for the Lok Sabha saying that the process would subsume State elections and greatly damage poll prospects of regional satraps in favour of national parties. Opposition parties have argued that state issues would be sidelined and Lok Sabha poll campaign will have a sway over voting process in the State elections.  

But Shah favoured  holding Lok Sabha and Assembly polls  saying it would check expenditure and ensure that the nation is not in "election mode" throughout the year.     

In his letter to the Law Commission, he said holding simultaneous polls is not only a concept, but a principle which can be implemented and that Shah the claim that holding two sets of polls was against the federal structure of the country is a "baseless" argument. On the contrary, he said, it would strengthen the federal structure of the country.

In his eight-page letter, the BJP head said the Opposition to simultaneous polls seems to be politically motivated.

The law panel, which is examining the feasibility of holding simultaneous polls, had sought the views of the political parties before finalising its report. Both the BJP and Congress had stayed away from consultation organised by the commission in this regard last month. The Congress had met the Commission top brass recently where it had opposed the concept of simultaneous polls.