Kerala assembly resolution asks Centre to revoke ‘One Nation, One Election’ plan

Kerala minister MB Rajesh said there were other simpler ways to reduce election costs and make governance effective

KOCHI: The Kerala assembly on Thursday passed a resolution urging the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre to revoke its decision to accept a high-level committee’s recommendation on implementing simultaneous national, state and local polls across India, saying this proposal was undemocratic.

Thiruvananthapuram: Parliamentary affairs minister MB Rajesh said the high level committee viewed Lok Sabha, state assembly and local body polls as an expense and doing so was “undemocratic”. (ANI)

The resolution, moved by the state’s parliamentary affairs minister MB Rajesh on behalf of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, said the ‘one nation, one election’ proposal approved by the Centre would weaken the federal system in the country. The BJP does not have a legislator in the state assembly.

Kerala is the first state assembly to pass a resolution against the proposed move.

MB Rajesh, who tabled the proposed resolution in the assembly, said, “The proposal is undemocratic. We see it as a concerted attempt to damage the country’s social, cultural and political diversities. When there are simpler ways to reduce expenses and ensure smoother governance, the proposal is aimed at destroying the federal structure which is at the core of the Constitution, challenging the rights of the people and hampering the rights of state assemblies and local self-governments”.

The proposal to align elections was a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s 2024 poll manifesto but is fiercely opposed by a raft of political parties and activists who allege that it would hurt democratic accountability.

On September 18, the Union cabinet accepted the recommendations of the committee chaired by former president Ram Nath Kovind and announced that an implementation group would be formed to execute the recommendations.

To be sure, such a move would require a constitutional amendment, and would need to be endorsed in Parliament by a two-thirds majority and then ratified by state assemblies. It is not clear if the government, which is in power with a reduced majority, can muster up the required numbers.

IUML legislator N Shamsudheen moved an amendment to the resolution, arguing that the proposal of ‘one nation, one election’ must not be referred to as an electoral ‘reform’, but an ‘agenda of BJP-RSS’.

Before the assembly passed the resolution, Rajesh said some amendments moved by MLAs KK Rema and N Shamsudheen could be accepted as they strengthen the wording of the resolution.