Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that the “one nation, one election” plan will be implemented in the current term of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government, The Hindu reported.
Shah said this during a press conference on the completion of 100 days of the third Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
During the Lok Sabha election campaign in May, Shah had said that the Modi government will implement the plan in its next term if it retains power.
The BJP has been pushing for simultaneous elections, arguing that holding the Lok Sabha and the state polls at different times is a burden on the government, businesses, courts, political parties, contesting candidates and civil society.
In his Independence Day address in 2023, Modi had advocated for simultaneous elections, arguing that frequent polls were impeding the country’s progress. “The nation has to come forward for ‘one nation, one election’,” Modi had said at the time.
In September 2023, the Centre set up a committee to look into the feasibility of implementing simultaneous elections. The home minister was a member of the panel.
The report, submitted in March, said that there is a need to bring back the cycle of simultaneous elections as had been held during the initial decades after Independence.
The Opposition parties have criticised the government, saying that it has acted unilaterally in taking steps to implement the “one nation, one election” plan.
The Congress had said in September 2023 that the proposal goes against the basic structure of the Constitution. The proposal is based on the idea that the entire country is “one but this contradicts Article 1, which envisages India as a ‘Union of States’”.
Census
On Tuesday, Shah also said that a nationwide Census will be conducted soon.
The details about the caste census will be made public after the Census process is completed, The Hindu quoted Shah as saying.
The caste census has been a key demand of several Opposition parties.
The last decennial Census exercise was held in 2011. It was supposed to take place again in 2021.
In 2020, the plans to start the first phase of the exercise – in which housing data is collected – were deferred due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the pandemic having concluded, the Census schedule has not yet been notified.
Experts have said that the delay in conducting the Census is hampering the disbursal of government schemes and programmes. It has also resulted in unreliable estimates from other surveys on consumption, health and employment that depend on Census data to determine policy and welfare measures.
Also read:
- ‘One nation, one election’ plan presents a challenge for the Opposition – and for the BJP
- Simultaneous polls will weaken the only check on Indian politicians: Elections
- Caste census: Why the liberal intelligentsia’s opposition is misplaced
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