Oct 11, 2024 12:48 PM IST
The Kerala Legislative Assembly on Thursday passed a resolution, urging the central government to withdraw its proposed “One Nation, One Election” proposal
BJP leader N Ramchander Rao slammed the Kerala government for passing a resolution opposing the Centre’s ‘One Nation, One Election’ policy, reported news agency ANI.
Rao claimed the only reason the proposed policy was opposed was because of anti-BJP sentiments.
Also Read: Kerala assembly resolution asks Centre to revoke ‘One Nation, One Election’ plan
His remarks come after the Kerala Legislative Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution, urging the central government to withdraw its proposed “One Nation, One Election” reform. The assembly referred to the proposal as “undemocratic” and detrimental to the nation.
BJP leader Rao, in an interview with ANI, called for the Kerala government to scrap the resolution and claimed that the it was done out of political interest rather than national interest.
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He also stated that the only reason “One Nation, One Poll” was being rejected was because it had been proposed by a BJP-led government, which reflected poorly on the assembly’s attitude regarding ‘federalism’.
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Taking the example of the Citizens Amendment Act, he pointed out that states with opposition parties in government had muddied the process of collecting information and ascertaining citizenship through their own state-based resolutions.
“So, the opposition governments, mainly the Congress and the Communists, both alike, are opposing any decision taken by the central government. They want to oppose it only for the sake of opposition. The Communist Party has less national interest than their political interest,” he said.
On Thursday, the Kerala Legislative Assembly passed a resolution introduced under Rule 118 by parliamentary affairs minister MB Rajesh in the absence of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The resolution considers the idea of simultaneous elections across various levels of governance such as Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha and Panchayats to be undermining the democratic process and diversity in India.
It would weaken the multi-party democratic system and would place certain restrictions on state and local bodies, centralising power. The Kerala assembly asked for the policy to be rolled back.
“The proposal for simultaneous elections reflects an undemocratic mindset that sees elections as a mere cost, ignoring the deeper value of electoral democracy,” the resolution stated.
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