Rejecting the concept of One Nation One Election, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge told a high-level committee being led by former President Ram Nath Kovind that the proposal to hold simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and all State legislatures goes against the basic structure of the Constitution and cannot exist in a parliamentary system.
In a January 17 letter to the panel’s secretary Niten Chandra, Mr. Kharge said that the idea should be abandoned for the sake of a “robust democracy” and urged that the “persona and office of the former President should not be allowed to be abused by the Union Government”.
“It is distressing when even common voters feel the consultations of the committee are likely to be a pretence since minds have already been made up,” he added.
