The polity of India has been abuzz with the idea of simultaneous elections, a procedure India had done away with after its third general elections in 1967. Prime Minister Modi has been hinting towards this particular idea since he assumed office in 2014.
According to reports, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Telangana’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) have backed the Law commission’s proposal to hold simultaneous state assembly and Lok Sabha elections. However, all are not so impressed by this idea as DMK leader Stalin refused to lend his support to this idea.
Earlier we had reported on Law Commission’s proposed meeting with the Election Commission to discuss the same. This round of talks, which kicked off on Saturday, the Law Commission is discussing the idea of holding simultaneous elections in the nation with various leading political parties.
While Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav expressed his party’s support for simultaneous elections, he added that this should happen only after 2019 and that new rules are secure from horse-trading. Similarly, Chandra Sekhar Rao of the TRS also extended his ‘strong support’ for the Law Commission’s proposal.
However, the DMK has not warmed up to the idea and said it ‘goes against the basic tenets of our constitution’. In his letter to the Law Commission, DMK’s working President MK Stalin said, DMK are of the firm opinion that the proposed call for simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha & State Legislatures goes against the basic tenets of our Constitution.’
Other parties like AIADMK and Shiromani Akali Dal have extended support to simultaneous elections while TMC and CPM are opposing it.
Earlier in April, Law commission had stated that simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies could be held in two phrases from 2019 if at least two provisions of the Constitution are amended and ratified by a majority of the states.
