Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Wednesday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘one nation, one election’ idea, saying it was an attempt of the Bharatiya Janata Party to divert attention from issues that concerned people.
She said holding simultaneous national and state elections “appears to be an undemocratic and unconstitutional” idea for a vast country like India.
She said that elections in any democracy could never be a problem nor elections should be weighed from the point of view of expenditure and extravagance.
Mayawati said she was not attending the all-party meeting convened by the Prime Minister to discuss this issue, adding that she would have attended the meeting had it been convened to discuss electronic voting machines (EVMs).
“‘One nation, one election’ is not an issue before the country. Elections through ballot papers are actually the national issue and our party will continue its struggle for it,” she said.
Mayawati’s comments came on the day an all-party meeting was convened by Modi to discuss several issues, including the idea of ‘one nation, one election’, celebration of 150 years of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary this year and 75 years of Independence in 2022.
In a series of tweets, Mayawati, who returned to Lucknow after a long time on Tuesday evening, said, “The country’s Constitution is under threat because of the government’s adamant attitude on continuing elections with EVMs instead of ballot papers. People have lost faith in EVMs. If the meeting was to discuss trust deficit on EVMs, then certainly, I would have attended it.”
“Elections can never be an issue in a democratic country and it will be inappropriate to say that polls put a financial burden on the state exchequer. Talks about one nation, one election are just a diversionary tactic from the public issues like poverty, inflation, unemployment, violence and other important national issues,’’ she added.
The BSP chief also wished Congress president Rahul Gandhi on his 50th birthday and wished for his long and healthy life.
In August last year, the Law Commission had recommended holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies to save public money.
In its draft recommendations, the Law Commission said simultaneous polls, with the exception of Jammu and Kashmir, would help the government of the day focus on “developmental activities rather than electioneering”.
It, however, cautioned that holding simultaneous elections was not possible within the existing framework of the Constitution.
After Modi addressed a NITI Aayog meeting last week, an official release said, “The Prime Minister called for widespread debate and consultations on simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas, keeping in view various aspects such as the resulting financial savings and consequent better utilisation of resources.”
The NITI Aayog had last year suggested synchronised two-phase Lok Sabha and Assembly polls from 2024 to ensure minimum campaign-mode disruption to governance.