CHENNAI: With the Union government constituting a committee led by former President Ram Nath Kovind to explore the feasibility of the “one nation, one election" concept, the DMK and the AIADMK on Friday took contrary stand, expressing strong opposition and endorsement against and for the policy.
Interacting with journalists at the Mumbai meeting of INDIA alliance, chief minister M K Stalin on Friday said, “This is the time to end the BJP’s attempts to impose uniformity in everything such as one nation-one tax, one nation-one language, one nation-one culture, one nation-one food, one nation—one education policy, one nation-one election, one nation-one party." He added that the opposition parties from Kanyakumari to Kashi entered the political battlefront to save India and appealed to patriotic citizens to join the battle to “protect mother India.”
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, an NDA ally, strongly advocated simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. He said it would escalate the speed of the country's development and avoid political instability. “Simultaneous elections will save the time, colossal cost and give longer uninterrupted period of governance to implement policies effectively for any elected government both federal & state,” he said, adding that the process would strengthen the federalism setup, which might lead to better voter turnout and democratic participation. In his post, Palaniswami dubbed the Union government as ‘federal.’
Tagging the official handles of President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister and Election Commission of India, Palaniswami said if the electoral process was implemented, development would be the main focus of governance rather than populist schemes announced mid-way just for the sake of winning elections. He expressed hope the committee led by the former President would take a “strong and swift decision in favour of the country's development.”
In Chennai, DMK youth wing secretary and minister Udhayandhi Stalin said the BJP government at the centre was scared and unaware of what to do against the backdrop of Manipur violence, Karnataka assembly election in which the BJP was defeated and now INDIA bloc's third meeting. “The DMK will continue to oppose the attempts of the BJP government to impose uniformity,” he said. The one nation, one election policy was needless and meaningless in India, a pluralistic country, NTK chief Seeman said, raising questions about the death of elected representatives, and the fall of governments that failed to meet the majority, withdrawal of support by parties.
