New Delhi, March 18: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi today put forward a suggestion to hold Lok Sabha and Assembly elections simutaneously every five years on a fixed date to avoid indecision in policy making and frequent elections.
Speaking to a distinguished audience here during India Today Conclave, Modi said, there was no point calling for electoral reforms if elections are held frequently.
"Earmark places for political leaders to hold meetings and give them a definite number of fuel coupons for campaigning to stop wastage of money", he suggested. "And why not fix dates for Lok Sabha and Assembly elections every five years? Other countries do have such a system."
Modi reminisced about the 1952 elections when polling officers had to carry ballot boxes carrying names and symbols of parties and the election process continued for months. "We have come a long way since then and now we have electronic voting machines".
On communal violence in Gujarat, Modi said, the state had a history of communal riots since 1736, and frequently curfews had to be imposed. Since the 2002 riots, there has been no major communal violence in Gujarat", he claimed.
Asked by a member of the audience when he would like to be addressed as Mr Prime Minister, Modi deftly sidelined it saying, "this is a question to which whatever reply I may give can spawn a controversy. I am content with serving Gujarat for the present."
Modi didn't fail to point out that India was still ranked 127th on the Human Development Index and had a long way to go.
He claimed that Gujarat had surged far ahead in the field of health, having the largest number of kidney replacements on a single day throughout the world.
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