M K Stalin
Lok Sabha elections 2019: DMK leader M.K.Stalin on Sunday said his party is opposed to the Law Commission's proposal of 'one nation one election', contemplating simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and state assemblies. Speaking to reporters here, he said the proposal is wrong and it is against the Constitution. Stalin said the party has sent its views to the commission on its proposals.
In its submission, signed by Stalin, the DMK expressed it "whole-hearted" opposition to the proposal, terming it "a complete misadventure that will decimate the federal structure".
Referring to the proposal of synchronising state legislature elections with 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the DMK said: "The Working Paper does not seem to have considered that the Lok Sabha is also capable of being dissolved before its five year tenure. If such a situation were to happen, it is unclear whether all Legislative Assemblies will also be dissolved to synchronise the electoral process again."
The party also pointed out that the Law Commission, on the request of the previous BJP led government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, studied and reported on this very same issue in its 170th Report in 1999.
"No action has been taken upon its recommendations so far. Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice (which consists of all major political parties from across the country), in its 79th Report in 2015, has concluded that 'gaining consensus of all political parties may be difficult' and that 'holding simultaneous elections may not be feasible in 2016 or even in a decade'," DMK said.
The party also added that the redundant exercise of the Law Commission to produce a duplicative report that has no chances of being legislated is questionable and there is also a danger of diminishing the Commission's credibility.
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According to DMK, the cost of procuring voting machines would be about Rs 10,000 crore - recurring every 15 years whereas the entire expenditure borne by the Central government for conducting the 2014 general elections was only Rs 3,870 crore or roughly Rs 45 per elector.
"It is not clear how this can be considered 'huge' or 'massive"'or how spending thousands of crores more would be more 'efficient'," the party asked.
On Saturday, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) described the concept of "one nation, one election" proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as "impractical and unconstitutional".
Holding simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls was against the basic provisions of the Constitution, said senior TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee, also a Supreme Court lawyer.
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Banerjee represented the TMC at the consultations by the Law Commission on feasibility of holding Lok Sabha and assembly polls together.
"The party strongly opposes the concept floated by the BJP government as it is highly impractical and against the provisions of the Constitution," he said.
(With inputs from agencies)
