The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) vehemently opposes the idea of ‘One Nation One Election’ (ONOE) as it poses a threat to parliamentary democracy, the Constitution’s basic structure, and the country’s federal polity. The AAP conveyed to the High-Level Committee (HLC) constituted on the ONOE today that the suggestion for concurrent elections to the Lok Sabha and all State legislatures poses a grave threat to the country’s democracy, constitutional principles, and holding of free and fair elections.
The AAP delegation comprising its National Secretary Shri Pankaj Gupta and Senior Leader Shri Jasmine Shah met the high-level committee chaired by former President Of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind.
Shri Pankaj Gupta highlighted that simultaneous poll weakens democratic accountability to the voter and will encourage governments to work only once every five years before elections. He also said the current form of elections do not pose any hindrance in day-to-day governance. He highlighted that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) imposed before any elections only restricts announcement of any new schemes, while the existing programmes of the government continue unhindered. Any challenges posed by the implementation of the MCC can be addressed at the level of Election Commission by making the MCC provisions clearer and by reducing the number of phases in which state elections are conducted, he added.
Shri Pankaj Gupta emphasised the fact that the election mode was an opportunity for the people to hold the Union and State Governments accountable, and ONOE would deprive the citizens of this opportunity. He also addressed the financial aspect of ONOE to highlight that the total expenditure on elections in their current form is miniscule, only 0.1% of annual Central government budget, and any bid to reduce it through ONOE is not worth sacrificing constitutional principles.
Shri Jasmine Shah apprised the HLC that ONOE would be an affront to the Parliamentary system of governance, federalism, democracy, and free and fair elections. He addressed the technicalities of ONOE, to inform the HLC that ONOE does not provide any solution to hung verdicts after elections, or to a situation where the government loses the confidence of the legislature.
Shri Jasmine Shah specifically pointed two aspects. First, that the solution proposed for hung legislatures by ONOE would require dilution of anti-defection laws, encouraging rampant horse-trading and misuse of money/muscle power by the largest party. Second, that the solution proposed for government losing confidence of the legislature, in the form of a constructive ‘vote of no-confidence’, would allow governments to function without majority support of the legislature, that is, without the support of the people. In addition, Shri Jasmine Shah alerted the HLC that ONOE would lead to overtaking and eclipsing of the state election agenda by national election agenda. He concluded by saying that tenets of constitution and democracy cannot be sacrificed for narrow financial gains or administrative convenience.
The AAP representatives pointed out flawed nature of current consultation which is taking place on vague idea without any policy draft on table. They also requested the committee to hold another round of consultation in future with a concrete draft scheme for simultaneous polls, if at all committee recommends it.
Receiving the delegation of AAP leaders, Chairman of HLC and former President Shri Ram Nath Kovind mentioned that as a national political party with governments in two states, Aam Aadmi Party is an important stakeholder in the consultation process. The committee patiently heard the views of AAP and acknowledged AAP’s request to consider a second round of consultation in future with a concrete draft scheme for simultaneous polls, if the committee recommends it.
Flagging some serious concerns about its constitutionality earlier, the AAP had noted that holding simultaneous elections will damage the basic structure of the Constitution. The Supreme Court has held that the Basic Structure of the Constitution cannot be undermined, whereas the idea and mechanism of ONOE fundamentally damages elements of the basic structure, the AAP had held.
