New Delhi, Sep 19 (PTI) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Thursday condemned the government’s push for ‘one nation, one election’, urging all political parties that value democracy, pluralism, and federalism to unite against the move.
The party issued a statement a day after the Union Cabinet accepted the recommendations of the Kovind Committee advocating simultaneous elections for Parliament, state assemblies, and local bodies.
The CPI(M) Central Committee urged all political parties that value democracy, pluralism, and federalism to unite in opposition to the government’s move, vowing to resist any constitutional amendments aimed at implementing this policy.
The CPI(M) said that implementing this model would shorten the terms of some legislative assemblies to synchronize with Lok Sabha elections, which violates the people’s constitutional right to elect representatives for a full five-year term.
“The CPI(M) will strongly oppose any move to amend the Constitution for this purpose. Every party, which values democracy, pluralism and federalism, should come out firmly in opposition and unitedly thwart this pernicious move,” the statement said.
The party also criticised the proposal for mid-term elections that would only last until the next general elections, claiming it defeats the stated goal of reducing the frequency of elections.
The CPI(M) said the one nation, one election model, if implemented, will undermine the parliamentary democratic system itself and the federal structure.
“The attack on federalism is all the more insidious with the move to hold simultaneous election to all panchayats and municipal bodies. This is centralization to the extreme and goes against the very purpose of decentralized decision-making local bodies. Holding of panchayat and local body elections is under the purview of the state governments and this is sought to be denied,” it said.
The statement accused the RSS-BJP of attempting to establish a unitarian state structure with centralised control, driven by ideological motives. PTI UZM TIR TIR
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