Centre to introduce ‘one nation, one election’ Bills in Lok Sabha on Monday

New Delhi: The government has listed two Bills related to “one nation, one election” for introduction in the Lok Sabha on Monday. Union Law Minister Meghwal will introduce The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill and The Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill in the Lower House.

The ruling BJP took a major step towards implementing its key plank of “one nation, one election” on Thursday as the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the constitutional amendment Bill to roll out the concept of simultaneous Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls.

Two draft legislations, including one simple Bill to amend provisions in laws dealing with three Union territories with legislative Assemblies to align them with the Constitution amendment Bill, were given the nod by the Cabinet. The proposed constitutional amendment Bill would deal with making provisions for holding Lok Sabha and state legislative Assembly elections together.

While a high-level committee led by former president Ram Nath Kovind on simultaneous polls had also proposed holding municipality and panchayat elections along with the national and state elections in a phased manner, the Cabinet has decided to stay away, “as of now”, from the manner in which local body elections are conducted. Meanwhile, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said the idea of ‘one nation, one election’ undermines the country’s federal structure.

“Unfortunately, this NDA government is destroying India’s Constitution day by day. India is a federal country, which has a federal structure. By talking of ‘one nation, one election’, you are undermining that federal structure,” Mufti told reporters here. The NDA government talks of making a “Viksit Bharat” by 2047, but actually they are “taking the country backwards”, she said.

“They talk of 2047, but they are rather moving backwards. After the country became independent, there was ‘one nation, one election’ (in the early years). After that, there has been distribution of power among regions and a federal structure was born. They want to take us back to the same dictatorship which I think is very wrong,” she added.