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.
“ONOE encroaches upon the exercise of democratic power by the people by forcing the legislature to necessarily remain in office for five years even if the government loses the confidence of the people. It also demolishes the idea that the will of the people is paramount,” the AAP said.
Also read: Why ‘one nation, one election’ would strike a blow against federalism | Data
It added that concurrent elections would give an unfair advantage to the party in power at the Centre.
“Empirical evidence suggests that a very large number of voters tend to vote for the same party in the Assembly election as they do in the general poll. With the citizens’ voting choices being largely influenced by how parties are likely to play a role in national politics, smaller regional parties may even disappear, while the hegemony of the dominant national party will only increase,” the AAP said.
On January 17, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to the high-level committee, saying 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”.
