INDIA bloc's key leaders to meet to echo stance against Modi's ambitious 'one nation one election' plan

Parliamentary floor leaders of INDIA bloc parties will meet on Tuesday to discuss the upcoming special session and try to firm up their collective response to the Centre's move on 'one nation, one election'. Before the floor leaders' meeting convened by Rajya Sabha's Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi will preside over a meeting of the party's parliamentary strategy committee.

A day after the All India Congress Committee termed the government decision to constitute a committee on 'one nation, one election' as an attempt to sabotage India's parliamentary democracy and pulled out its lone nominee Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from the panel, Congress president Kharge accused the Narendra Modi government of trying to turn democratic India "into a dictatorship" and alleged the committee on 'one nation, one election' "is a subterfuge for dismantling the federal structure of India".

Also Read: India's govt contemplates 'One Nation, One Election': Can Modi's ambitious reform be a reality?


While the government-formed panel is briefed to examine where constitutional amendment would be needed to implement 'one nation, one election', Kharge's statement said such a plan would require "at least five amendments" in the Constitution and a "massive change in the Representation of the People Act, 1951", comment perhaps meant to oppose any move to propose the norm through simple legislation.

Questioning the composition of the committee, he asked: "Without undermining the wisdom of any individual, is the proposed committee best suited to deliberate and decide on perhaps the most drastic disruption in the Indian electoral process? Should this huge exercise unilaterally be undertaken without consulting the political parties? Should this humongous operation happen without bringing states and their elected governments on board? This idea has been extensively examined and rejected by three committees in the past. It remains to be seen whether the fourth one has been constituted with a pre-decided outcome in mind. It baffles us that a representative of the prestigious Election Commission of India has been excluded from the committee."

Kharge dismissed BJP's argument of saving expenditure through one poll and said if frequent polls affecting developmental works was the issue, all parties can discuss to arrive at a consensus on the matter. He accused BJP of overthrowing elected governments and forcing as many as 436 Lok Sabha/assembly bypolls after 2014, thus vitiating politics and rendering anti-defection law "toothless".

Kharge said: "Drastic actions like 'one nation, one election' would sabotage our democracy, Constitution and evolved-time-tested procedures. What can be accomplished by simple electoral reforms would prove to be a disaster, like other disruptive ideas of PM Modi."

Congress' Rahul Gandhi posted on X: "INDIA, that is Bharat, is a Union of States. The idea of 'one nation, one election' is an attack on the Indian Union and all its States."

CPI MP Benoy Vishwam chose to write to the President to register his apprehension about the government move and to lament that the special session will have no question hour.