One Nation, One Election Bill attempt to deflect attention from BJP’s failures: Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin

Terming the ‘One Nation, One Election’ Bill as “anti-federal” and “impractical”, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Monday said the proposed bill, if passed and implemented, will remove the legal checks and balances put in place by the framers of India’s Constitution to prevent the country from slipping into anarchy and totalitarianism.

Stalin, whose DMK has been opposed to the idea of holding simultaneous elections to Parliament and state legislatures since 2018, said the I.N.D.I.A. bloc will resist the anti-federal and impractical “One Nation, One Election” formula as it will push the country into the perils of “unitary form of governance,” killing its diversity and democracy in the process.

He also said the BJP’s “brazen attempt” to push through the Bill without required numbers is aimed at deflecting attention from its failures to address core issues affecting the country’s progress.

“All the democratic forces must unite & fight tooth and nail against this abomination imposed in the garb of electoral reform, to save India, its diversity and the Constitution,” the Chief Minister added.

The DMK president also accused the BJP government at the Centre of seeking to push the Bill with an ulterior motive of conducting a Presidential form of election, which is against the spirit of our Constitution.

“The proposed bill, if passed and implemented, will remove the legal checks and balances put in place in the form of periodic elections by the framers of our great Constitution to prevent the country from slipping into anarchy and totalitarianism. Also, state elections would lose their political significance and regional sentiments and diversity would be destroyed,” he said.