Joining the Opposition chorus against the ‘One Nation One Election’ proposal, cleared by the Union Cabinet, DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday derided it as impractical which would undermine federalism.
He described the entire proposal as ‘a move to satisfy the BJP’s ego and asserted that Indian democracy cannot be bent to suit the greed of one party’.
“One Nation One Election is an impractical proposition that ignores the complexities of India’s diverse electoral system and undermines Federalism. It is logically unfeasible, given the vast differences in election cycles, regional issues, and governance priorities,” the chief minister, whose DMK is an important pillar of the INDIA Bloc, said in a post on the microblogging site ‘X’.
The DMK has been opposing the idea ever since it was mooted and a panel headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind was constituted to study it. The panel had submitted its report and the Cabinet had cleared the same. It has now joined the Congress, TMC, Shiv Sena (UBT), AAP and the CPI(M) in opposing it.
On the hurdles in implementing it, Stalin said, “It will require an unrealistic alignment of all terms of office, disrupting the natural course of governance.”
He added, “This entire proposal is simply a move to satisfy the BJP’s ego, but they will never be able to implement it. India’s democracy cannot be bent to suit the greed of one party. The Union government should address pressing issues like unemployment, price rise and equitable distribution of resources to States instead of wasting energy on these diversionary tactics.”
Earlier in February, the Tamil Nadu Assembly had passed a resolution opposing the One Nation One Election initiative of the BJP-led Union government. The resolution said the idea was not enshrined the Constitution and was against democratic decentralization.
Another resolution, also passed on the occasion, demanded that the delimitation process be carried out after 2026 on the basis of the Census.
Expressing serious apprehension about states like Tamil Nadu further losing its number of seats in Parliament, the resolution said if the number of seats were to be increased on the basis of population, it should be maintained at the present ratio of the constituencies between the States in the State Assemblies and both houses of Parliament.
The principal Opposition party in Tamil Nadu AIADMK had welcomed the proposal, and faced criticism from the DMK and its allies which accused it of acting against federalism, a cornerstone of Dravidian ideology.