BSY says 'One Nation, One Election' will help improve administration

BENGALURU: Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Thursday stressed the need for a debate on ‘One Nation, One Election’, as repeated elections meant the model code of conduct coming into force, which would hamper the functioning of the government and delay developmental works.

During the debate on ‘One Nation, One Election’ in the Assembly, Yediyurappa said that though elections are inevitable in a democracy, they are expensive and time-consuming. He said there is a need to make amendments to The Representation of the People Act, 1951, to hold polls simultaneously across the country. The CM said it will help improve administration, save time and resources required to hold elections. “There will be initial hiccups, but if it is discussed at all levels, it can be debated and implemented. This will be a major challenging task,’’ he added.

Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri quoted former Election Commission S Y Qureshi who had said --  “From the Eelection Commission’s point of view, this is the easiest thing to happen, the voter is the same, polling stations are the same and the security needed is the same”.Kageri said India has moved forward from ballot paper to VV PAT. Counting, which used to take three days, has now reduced to half a day. “In this process, if we focus on utilising man power and money spent, we will develop further,’’ Kageri said.

He said the discussion on ‘One Nation, One Election’ was being held following the advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting of the Speakers of legislative assemblies held in Gujarat recently. He said that in many western countries, elections take place at one time. In 2019, the LS polls and the assembly elections in three states were held simultaneously, and as per the estimation, `60,000 crore was spent.