The idea of ‘One Nation, One Election’ (ONOE) threatens parliamentary democracy, the Constitution’s Basic Structure, and the country’s federal polity, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said on Saturday.
The party said it had told the high-level committee led by former President Ram Nath Kovind that the suggestion of holding concurrent elections to the Lok Sabha and all State legislatures poses a grave threat to the idea of free and fair polls.
“ONOE is inadequate in addressing hung legislatures, paving the way for anti-defection and the open buying-selling of MLAs/MPs,” the party said in a statement. It said the argument of ‘One Nation, One Election’ saving election-related costs did not hold as simultaneous polls would only save 0.1% of the Union Budget.
