DMK slams one nation, one election proposal of BJP

CHENNAI: The ruling DMK has come down heavily on the BJP led Centre for proposing "one nation, one election" and said that the saffron party has not understood the purpose of the democratic exercise called elections.

In a scathing editorial published in its party organ 'Murasoli', the DMK referred to the recent victory of the BJP in the Gujarat State Assembly polls and said, "Are they going to dissolve it? BJP is in power in many other states. Are they going to dissolve the governments? Will BJP MLAs accept it? How many thousands of crores would be spent on conducting elections in such dissolved states?

Remarking that backdoor is the path known to the BJP, the DMK party organ said that the BJP poaches ruling party MLAs and topples governments when it fails to win in State Assembly elections. "When will elections be conducted for such toppled governments? Will they be conducted along with Parliamentary polls after five years? Who will rule the states till then? Or will they dissolve the Parliament to conduct elections for such states? Will the election expenditure be borne by the rich BJP?" the editorial added.

Stating that even election to Gujarat State Assembly was conducted only in two phases, the DMK said, "In a country where they are unable to conduct election to a State Assembly in one phase, they are planning to conduct election to all State legislatures and the Parliament simultaneously. They do not know why the elections are conducted. It is conducted for the people. Elections are conducted not merely to elect representatives to State Assemblies and the Parliament, but for the people to exercise their democratic right and delegate their representatives through election."

"Viewing elections as an expenditure instead of a noble exercise in a democracy is a skewed perception. Hence, the DMK strongly opposed one nation, one election proposal, which is impractical and antithetical to the principle of federalism," the editorial said, citing the views communicated to the national law commission by Chief Minister MK Stalin on the issue.

Referring to the premature dissolution of sixth, seventh, ninth, 11th, 12th and 15th Lok Sabha, the editorial said that it was not possible to dissolve either the State Legislative Assembly or the Parliament ahead of its full term of five years.

Citing Articles 172 and 83 that stipulate the term of the Parliament, the DMK mouthpiece said that the one nation, one election proposal was in violation of Representation of Peoples Act and anathema to democracy and not in accordance with the existing Constitution. "The proposal requires extension or reduction of tenures of State Assemblies and it would only create confusion in states. The nature of state and Parliament elections are different. Parliament elections are fought on issues of national significance. Assembly elections factor in state welfare. Both must not be confused. It is not possible to mobilize security forces across the country,” it added.

Sparing a thought for AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami who supported the proposal, the DMK sarcastically said that EPS who is unable to conduct a single general secretary election has come forward to advise the whole country.