Speaking on the feasibility of conducting simultaneous elections in the country, former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) T S Krishnamurthy said that the idea of ‘one nation one election’ is attractive but it cannot be applied without making an amendment in the Constitution providing for a fixed tenure of legislatures. The matter of one simultaneous election for Lok Sabha and all Assemblies in the country came to limelight after PM Modi called a meeting of all party presidents to discuss the issue tomorrow.
Krishnamurthy said that the implementation of the idea of one nation, one election is possible but it will require a lot of administrative arrangements which might include increasing the strength of paramilitary forces for deploying on election duties. He called the idea as advantageous.
However, Krishnamurthy said that provision relating to no-confidence motion and related issues are some hindrances in the way of implementation of the idea. He said that a constitutional amendment in the above-mentioned provisions is a prerequisite for the implementation of the idea. “The only way out is an amendment by which you say…a vote of confidence will be effective only if some other person is elected as a leader, otherwise the old government will continue. Unless you provide for a fixed tenure of the House, it’s not possible”, said Krishnamurthy who oversaw the Lok Sabha elections of 2004.
He added that transitional provisions extending the tenure of Houses to a common date may be required to be made. “Transitional provisions may be required because of some Houses would have had two-and-half years (of its tenure), some would have had four-and-half years, like that. A transitional provision providing for extending the (tenure of) Houses to a common date may be required”, he said.
During an all-party meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Modi had invited the heads of all political parties having at least one MP in the Parliament for a meeting to be held on June 19 to discuss some important matters including ‘one nation, one election’.
