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Stalin: ONOE is against spirit of Constitution
The BJP lacks a majority to pass the critical legislation, Stalin said warning that it would alter India’s polity forever.
Chennai: Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin on Monday said that the Dravida Muunetra Kazhagam (DMK) government will resist the “One nation one election” which he described as anti-federal and impractical and said that it will push India into a unitary form of governance, killing its diversity and democracy in the process.
In a post on X, Stalin said: “The Union BJP government seeks to push it with an ulterior motive of conducting a Presidential form of election, which is against the spirit of our Constitution.”
“The proposed bill, if passed and implemented, will remove the legal checks and balances put in place in the form of periodic elections by the framers of our great Constitution to prevent the country from slipping into anarchy and totalitarianism. Also, State elections would lose their political significance and regional sentiments and diversity would be destroyed,” he said.
The BJP lacks a majority to pass the critical legislation, Stalin said warning that it would alter India’s polity forever. The current strength of the Lok Sabha is 542 and the government will need the support of 361 MPs. “Yet, a brazen attempt is being made to settle scores and deflect attention from the BJP’s failures to address core issues affecting the country’s progress,” he said. He called for all the democratic forces to unite against this “abomination imposed in the garb of electoral reform”.
Earlier too, Stalin had spoken out against the matter. On December 5, after the Union Cabinet approved the bill to amend the Constitution to implement, “one nation, one election”, Stalin had posted on X, that the move is impractical, anti-democratic and will erase regional voices, erode federalism, and disrupt governance.
The proposal was a part of the BJP’s 2024 election manifesto. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had previously advocated for simultaneous elections to bring down expenses and cut down on restrictions imposed on policy making.
It has been opposed by several opposition parties including Congress and Trinamool Congress and activists. It is likely to be introduced in the ongoing winter session, which concludes on December 20. As a first step, the bills will focus on synchronising Lok Sabha and assembly elections, as suggested by the Ram Nath Kovind committee. Tamil Nadu goes to assembly polls in 2026.
