Gujarat govt endorses simultaneous polls, Cong opposes proposal

Gandhinagar: The BJP state govt on Wednesday backed the proposal of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies while the Congress opposed the ‘one nation, one election’ proposal. Leaders of the ruling party and the opposition Congress met the joint parliamentary committee (JPC), which is in Gujarat to examine the proposal.

CM Bhupendra Patel, deputy CM Harsh Sanghavi, and other leaders met the JPC at GIFT City and submitted their opinions on the proposal to the committee headed by MP P P Chaudhary. The Congress delegation led by GPCC president Amit Chavda also made submissions before the panel, calling the proposal a “hidden agenda aimed at centralization of power”.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Sanghavi said that the state govt fully supports the proposed legislation as it is in the “national interest”. “As this concept is in the interest of the nation, the Gujarat govt has extended its full support to the idea of one nation, one election,” he said.

Sanghavi said Gujarat had already moved towards simultaneous elections by conducting polls to municipal corporations, municipalities, district panchayats, and taluka panchayats together during this year’s local self-govt elections. “This set a new precedent for states across the country, showing that we can execute this effectively,” he said.

Sanghavi said that while election management consumes time and manpower, the model code of conduct affects development work and routine administrative governance. “Implementing the ‘one nation, one election’ proposal would save public time and resources and allow officers to focus on public welfare work,” he said.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Amit Chavda said, “We strongly oppose the ‘one nation, one election’ proposal and the bills. The hidden agenda behind bringing this bill is the centralization of power.” He said that the proposal goes against the constitutional spirit and the federal structure of the country. “Our constitutional framework grants different systems and powers to each state, and this is an attempt to centralize them,” he said.

Rejecting the Centre’s argument that simultaneous elections would reduce expenditure and administrative burden, Chavda said election-related expenditure accounts for less than one per cent of govt budgets. “If elections are held simultaneously, central issues and national narratives will dominate, suppressing local issues of states,” Chavda said.

The 41-member parliamentary panel is scrutinizing two proposed legislations related to simultaneous elections — the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill.

Panel chairman P P Chaudhary had claimed on Tuesday that simultaneous polls could help the country save Rs 7 lakh crore, increasing the GDP by 1.6 per cent.