'One nation, one voter list' is an essential electoral reform: BJP leader Naqvi

Stressing the need for path-breaking reforms in the electoral process of the country, senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday (September 24) wanted the ‘one nation, one voter list’ to be implemented.

“Different voter lists for elections to panchayat, municipal corporation, municipality, Vidhan Sabha, Lok Sabha and other elections not only create confusion but also raise questions on the credibility of the voter lists, said the former minority affairs minister, adding that the  ‘one nation, one voter list’ and ‘one nation, one voter card’ could solve this problem.

Naqvi was addressing a conference at an event organised in Lucknow to celebrate the birth anniversary of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay.

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Naqvi pointed out that many significant electoral reforms were introduced during the tenure of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2000. This included the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), ban on contesting from more than two places, limit on election expenditure and placing curbs on criminalisation in politics.

Further, he said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi too initiated a number of crucial reforms in the electoral process. It was the Modi government that brought ‘electoral bonds’ to curb the use of black money by political parties, candidates in elections and to ensure financial transparency in the electoral process, he added.

Also, he said Modi brought in easy and accessible procedures for voters, expansion of voter ID cards, legal restrictions on money and muscle power, formulating guidelines for non-serious candidates and political parties and the appeal for ‘one nation, one election’, the BJP leader added.

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According to Naqvi, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay was an “institution of political purity and probity”, terming his principle and ideology an essential and effective lesson for electoral reforms.

Cautioning the people about money and muscle power in electoral politics, the leader said Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Ji had said “vote for a person, not for his purse; vote for a party, not for a person; vote for ideology, not for a party”.

Deendayal Ji had also cautioned against opportunism which has today become a “prevailing political practice”, he added. Calling elections as a festival of democracy, he added that people’s faith and enthusiasm towards elections strengthen democratic values in India, the largest democracy of the world.S