The BSP chief Mayawati has supported the Centre’s ‘One Nation, One Election’ but it should be made clear that the aim of the move is in the larger national and public interest. She said, “Our party is in the positive for the approval by the central cabinet for the proposal for simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, Assembly, and local body elections under the ‘One Nation, One Election’. However, the entire concept should cater to the nation and the people”.
’एक देश, एक चुनाव’ की व्यवस्था के तहत् देश में लोकसभा, विधानसभा व स्थानीय निकाय का चुनाव एक साथ कराने वाले प्रस्ताव को केन्द्रीय कैबिनेट द्वारा आज दी गयी मंजूरी पर हमारी पार्टी का स्टैण्ड सकारात्मक है, लेकिन इसका उद्देश्य देश व जनहित में होना ज़रूरी।
— Mayawati (@Mayawati) September 18, 2024
Mayawati has become one of the first opposition leaders to support the move, after the Union Cabinet approved, recommendations by a higher-level committee under the chairmanship of former President Ram Nath Kovind. This panel had been supporting the idea of ‘Poll Boundaries’ or the elections of Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, and presented the report before the confinement of the Lok Sabha elections to be held in 2024.
The details presented by the panel mostly centred the notion that holding of the elections at the same time will help in cutting down costs, development as well as social integration, and the building of democracy all in equal measure. But Congress and AIMIM and such various other political parties have cast their concerns against it. AIMIM President Assaduddin Owaisi objected this proposal stating that the proposal is diametrically against the provisions of the Constitution, which includes democracy and federal structure. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge described the initiative as unrealistic and complained that the BJP was inventing such an issue before the elections.
