'Single Election Cannot Work In Democracy': Opposition on 'One Nation One Election'

New Delhi: At least 15 Opposition parties including the Congress have expressed their displeasure over the implementation of the ‘One Nation One Election’, the proposal proposed by a committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has said that the plan is not pragmatic or practical, while dubbing it "an attempt to divert the attention of the public". The Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday gave a green signal to the report submitted by the panel, which got a sharp reaction from the Opposition parties.  

‘One Nation, One Election’ is against the Constitution: Kharge

Mallikarjun Kharge, while releasing the manifesto of the Congress party for the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls, attacked the BJP saying, “When elections come, they are not getting any issues to raise. So they divert attention from real issues."

He said that the government’s plan for one single election ‘cannot work in a democracy’. “Elections need to be held as and when required if we want our democracy to survive. We don’t stand with this,” he said.

Pertinently, the Ram Nath Kovind panel had initially submitted its findings in March, before the Lok Sabha election dates were announced. The panel in its report had said that the political parties namely the Congress , Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Aam Aadmi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI (M)), Communist Party of India (CPI), Trinamool Congress, AIMIM, and Samajwadi Party were against the proposal.

Now, as the panel has submitted its proposal on the implementation of the ‘One Nation One Election’, the Opposition has taken the opportunity to attack the Narendra Modi government and the BJP . The report said that 47 political parties provided feedback, with 32 agreeing and 15 indicating disagreement with simultaneous elections while 15 political parties ‘did not respond despite requests for suggestions and reminders given to them’.

Opposition Leaders Reaction

In his post on X, Kharge wrote, “One Nation, One Election is only a BJP issue to divert attention. This is against the constitution, this is against democracy, this is against federalism. The country will never accept this.”

Congress leader KC Venugopal said that the proposal is not practical. "It is not practical in this country. They want to divert attention from present issues," he said.

Another Congress leader and also its spokesperson, Supriya Shrinate, said that the government is using the ‘One Nation, One Election’ as a tool to ‘divert attention’ from issues affecting the nation.

“One Nation, One Election is impractical and unrealistic. Many experts have pointed out that under the current Constitution, this cannot be taken forward. When Parliament meets we must get details on this. If it is pushed, then we need to study the consequences,” CPI’s D Raja said.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha said, "We oppose the idea of One Nation One Election. Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that 80 per cent of people supported it during the consultation. We want to know who the 80 per cent of people are. Did anyone ask us anything or talk to us?"

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief, Asaduddin Owaisi , said, “I have consistently opposed One Nation, One Election because it is a solution in search of a problem. It destroys federalism and compromises democracy, which are part of the basic structure of the constitution.”

He said, “Multiple elections aren’t a problem for anyone except Modi and Shah. Just because they have a compulsive need to campaign in even municipal and local body elections does not mean that we need simultaneous polls. Frequent and periodic elections improve democratic accountability.”

CPI’s D Raja said, “One Nation, One Election is impractical and unrealistic. Many experts have pointed out that under the current Constitution, this cannot be taken forward. When Parliament meets we must get details on this. If it is pushed, then we need to study the consequences.”

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray criticised the move saying, “This is a joke in itself because the Election Commission which cannot hold simultaneous elections in 4 states is talking about one nation, one election. We have 30 municipal elections pending in Maharashtra , why can’t they take that now?”