Sunday, January 21, 2018
- Chandigarh, Jan 21–The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, has appealed to all political parties to agree in national interest to bring about the required changes and constitutional amendment to facilitate simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies in the country. The intellectual class should help speed up the process so that our democratic system could be further strengthened.
- Speaking at the valedictory session of the national seminar on the topic of ‘One Nation-One Election’ organized at Thane in Mumbai, today, the Chief Minister said 'one nation-one election' was a practical and workable political idea, and furthering this thought would usher in a new political era in the country. Political momentum in the nation would be sustained and strengthened with the 'one nation-one election' concept.
- With the resultant political stability, the nation would gain more strength in political and economic terms. The prospect of becoming a developed nation would get a fillip with implementation of the 'one nation-one election' concept, he added.
- Mr. Manohar Lal recalled that the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, had much before the Budget session of 2016, proposed ‘one nation-one election’ at an all-party meeting. Later, he had raised this issue on various occasions to facilitate brainstorming by intellectuals.
- Mr Modi urged the intellectuals to discuss this topic on the occasion of Constitutional Day on November 26. The former President of India, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, had, in his address on Republic Day, also emphasized the need to restart the process of holding simultaneous elections to state assemblies and the Lok Sabha as was done in early decades after Independence.
- The Chief Minister said short-term policies and issues adopted by governments facing repeated electoral procedures weakened good governance and slowed down the pace of development. Due to separate elections to the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies, election expenditure kept mounting by the day. While Rs 1100 crore was spent during the general elections in 2009, the figure spared to Rs 3,870 crore in 2014. The simultaneous election process would also help in reducing the expenditure to a great extent, he added.
- Mr Manohar Lal stressed the need for electoral reforms to run parallel with economic reforms to ensure continuous development of the country in the 21st century, and described the seminar on ‘one nation-one election’ as a milestone.