CPI(M) calls One Nation One Election 'inherently anti-democratic' in letter to Kovind-led panel

New Delhi: CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury has written to the Ram Nath Kovind-led High Level Committee on simultaneous elections, saying the proposal is “inherently anti-democratic” and “negates” fundamental principles of federalism as per the Constitution.

In his letter to the High Level Committee on One Nation, One Election (ONOE), he also registered his party’s “strong protest” against the panel’s constitution itself as the terms of reference of the committee, whose “agenda and purpose is pre-decided and predestined”.

Yechury recalled that the CPI(M) has voiced its opposition and concern ever since the proposal for simultaneous polls was mooted.

Registering the party's “strong objection” to the manner in which the concept of ‘ONOE’ is being “sought to be imposed”, he said the consideration of the proposal itself runs against the letter and spirit of the Constitution, which defines the “centrality of the will of the people”.

Quoting the Preamble of the Constitution, he said people exercise their sovereignty through their elected representatives who are accountable to the people and the Executive, or, Government that assumes office as a consequence of elections is, in turn, accountable to the legislature.

“These aspects of our Constitution, we believe, cannot be tweaked, leave alone being undermined. Further, we believe that such a proposal is inherently anti-democratic and negates the principles of federalism which is a fundamental feature of our Constitution,” he said while annexing the party’s note submitted to the Law Commission in 2018 on the issue.

Read CPI(M)'s response to the High Level Committee - One Nation, One Election

In 2018, the CPI(M) had said that the right of elected legislators and Lok Sabha MPS to vote out any government cannot be circumscribed, nor can the right of a ruling party which has a stable majority in the House to recommend dissolution of the House and hold early elections be curtailed.

Yechury also said the terms of reference makes it “amply clear” that a decision on simultaneous polls has “already been taken and it is now only a question of its implementation”.

He said the committee’s October 18, 2023 letter had made it clear that the committee’s mandate was to make recommendations for building a suitable legal and administrative framework for organisation of simultaneous polls.

In its 2018 note to the Law Commission when it examined simultaneous polls, the CPI(M) had said it was totally opposed to any “artificial attempt” to bring about simultaneous elections, which can only be done by trampling upon the existing Constitutional scheme of parliamentary democracy.

It had warned that to hold the Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections together would require tampering with the Constitutional scheme of accountability of the government to the legislature.

“Under the Constitution, if a government loses the confidence of the legislature either by being voted out on a no-confidence motion, or, losing a vote on a Money Bill, it is bound to resign. If no alternative government can be formed, the House is dissolved and a midterm election held,” it had said.

“There is no fixity of tenure enshrined in the Constitution either for the Lok Sabha, or, for the state legislatures. Any attempt to prolong the life of the Lok Sabha, or legislature will be not only unconstitutional but anti-democratic. It is the will of the people through their elected representatives that must prevail,” the 2018 note added.