Opposition MPs claim Bills on simultaneous poll against Constitution

New Delhi: A robust exchange of contesting views on Wednesday marked the first meeting of a Parliamentary panel scrutinising two bills on conducting simultaneous polls, with Opposition members criticising the concept as an attack on the basic fabric of the Constitution and federalism, and BJP MPs hailing it as reflective of popular opinion.

The MPs attending the meeting of the 39-member Joint Parliamentary Committee expressed their views and asked questions following a presentation by the Ministry of Law and Justice on the provisions of the bills and the rationale guiding them.

A number of Opposition MPs, including Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, questioned the claim that simultaneous polls will reduce expenditure. They asked if any estimate was made following the 2004 Lok Sabha elections when EVMs were used the first time in all 543 seats and are believed to have brought down the cost incurred.

Vadra reportedly stressed that the reports on expenditure being cited by the government are for elections held before 2002.

The Congress general secretary asked how the government can say that holding simultaneous polls would

help reduce expenditure, and asked the Law Ministry to provide the necessary study to prove it would.

Vadra also said that both Article 83 and Article 172 of the Constitution provide for a clear five-year tenure for state Assemblies which cannot be curtailed.

She asked if it was the high-level Committee headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind or the government which is seeking to introduce a new interpretation that five years is a “maximum tenure” or “full tenure” of the state Assemblies. Such interpretation does not exist in the Constitutional scheme, she said.

Congress MPs Manish Tewari and Randeep Surjewala claimed that the proposed law is against the concept of federalism in the country.

While Tewari said the proposed law violates and negates the basic structure of the Constitution and makes states subservient to the Union, Surjewala said that the law is not only against the basic structure doctrine but violates the very concept of federalism in India.

BJP MPs, the sources added, countered the charge that the ‘one nation one election’ proposal flouted constitutional values by requiring an early dissolution of several state Assemblies and locking their term with the Lok Sabha’s.

Noting that seven state Assemblies were dissolved early in 1957 to ensure all state elections are held alongside the national elections, Sanjay Jaiswal asked if the likes of then president Rajendra Prasad, who was also the chairman of Constituent Assembly, and other eminent lawmakers, including those in the Nehru government, acted in violation of the Constitution.