‘If done with right intention…’: Prashant Kishor bats for simultaneous polls
Reminding people that simultaneous polls were held for two decades, poll strategist cites economic and administrative benefits of One Nation, One Election move
Political strategist Prashant Kishor believes the Centre’s ‘One Nation, One Election’ policy, if done with the right intentions, will be in the interest of the country.
He added that there should be a transition phase of four to five years. “If you attempt an overnight transition, there will be issues,” he pointed out in a video shared by news agency ANI.
Kishor reminded people that “simultaneous elections were held in the country for 17-18 years” (it was done for two decades from Independence to 1967). He also cited the economic and administrative benefits of holding Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections at the same time.
“In a country as huge as India, around 25 per cent of the population votes every year. So, those running the government remain busy with that. If it is limited to once or twice a year, it will cut down expenses and people will have to take a decision only once,” argued Kishor.
“Depends on intention”
Kishor, who launched the Jan Suraaj programme last year, said people should wait until the government introduces a Bill to hold simultaneous polls. “If the government has good intentions, it should happen and it will be good for the country...But it depends on the intentions with which the government is bringing it”, he added.
The Centre’s ‘One Nation, One Election’ move has been met with vehement protests from Opposition parties. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha and the lone Opposition face on the high-level committee constituted to examine the feasibility of conducting simultaneous elections, wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah “declining to serve on the committee whose terms of reference have been prepared in a manner to guarantee its conclusions”.
Congress’s organisational general secretary KC Venugopal, dubbed the committee as a “systematic attempt to sabotage India’s parliamentary democracy”, while Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has called the ‘One Nation, One Election’ move an attack on the Indian union and all its states.
(With agency inputs)