N Chandrababu Naidu
Lok Sabha elections 2019: Pointing out towards one of the hurdles which the Election Commission of India (ECI) may face if it goes for ‘one nation one election’, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Sunday said 7.5 million machines with VVPAT facility would be required for holding simultaneous elections and it would involve huge expenditure.
“Election Commission has about 1.9 mn EVMs. For simultaneous elections number of machines with VVPAT facility would be required at about 7.5 million. It involves huge expenditure and it takes several years for manufacturing the said machines,” TDP said reported news agency ANI.
Catch all the latest news about Lok Sabha elections 2019 HERE
However, suggesting a possible solution N Chandrababu Naidu's party added, “If due to any reason, especially in case of unavailability of required number of VVPATs when simultaneous elections will be held, EC is unable to allocate apt number of VVPATs, we suggest ballot paper should be used.”
“However, as far as the Andhra Pradesh is concerned simultaneous elections are going on and we have no grievance for the same if elections are held as per schedule in 2019,” party further said.
The Law Commission invited all the national and recognised state political parties to hold consultations on Saturday and on Sunday on the practicality of conducting simultaneous polls to Lok Sabha and state legislatures.
Catch all the latest news about Indian politics HERE
The Commission prepared a draft paper on "Simultaneous Elections - Constitutional and Legal Perspectives". It has sought opinions of "all stakeholders" including political parties, constitutional experts, bureaucrats and academia on the paper before finalising its report and sending it to the Narendra Modi led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
It may be recalled here that ‘one nation one election’ is the brainchild of PM Modi.
