On Tuesday, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal presented the ‘One Nation, One Election’ bill in the Lok Sabha. As soon as this bill was presented in the House, there was an atmosphere of debate and uproar. Opposition MPs called this bill anti-democracy. Despite this, voting was done on the bill in the Lok Sabha, in which 269 MPs voted in support and 198 MPs voted against it. Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) demanded that this bill be sent to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).
Various opposition parties, including the Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC), Samajwadi Party, and the Uddhav faction of Shiv Sena, protested when the bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha. Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav remarked that those who are unable to hold assembly elections in eight states simultaneously are talking about holding simultaneous elections in the entire country. TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee said that this bill is against the basic spirit of the Constitution.
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi protested and said, “This bill gives additional powers to the President, in which he can dissolve the assembly under Article 82A. This bill also gives additional powers to the Election Commission. The expenditure in the 2014 elections was Rs 3700 crore, and an attempt is being made to change it through this unconstitutional law. We strongly oppose this bill.”
At the same time, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supported it. TDP MP Chandrasekhar believes that conducting simultaneous elections will lead to financial savings for the country, which will save about 40 percent of the expenditure and will also benefit various parties financially.