We had earlier reported that many parties such as Samajwadi Party and Telangana Rashtra Samithi have given positive feedback to the Law Commission’s proposal of holding Lok Sabha elections and state assembly elections simultaneously in what according to the Commission should be two-phase elections.
Recently, BJD and YSR Congress both met the commission and extended their support for the proposed disposition made by the commission.
The Congress chose to stay away from the Law Commission’s deliberations. Senior party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi held a press conference on the subject and while interacting with reporters Singhvi stated that the commission’s proposal goes against the grain of democracy, and hits at the core of democracy.
Singhvi also commented on the Prime Minister’s argument in favour of ‘one nation, one election’ policy, that it would cost lesser money if elections at the centre and state levels are held simultaneously. Singhvi tried to debunk the Prime minister’s argument by pointing out the publicity expense of the Central government in the last four years is more than the entire cost incurred in conducting all elections.
With the entire country being sucked into the election cycle every few months, one would think that Congress too would be on board with the proposal to hold simultaneous elections. However, with the downward swing in their electoral fortunes, perhaps the Congress thinks that simultaneous elections would further hurt their chances of an electoral victory.
