On Sunday, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge discredited the central government’s assertions that holding the Lok Sabha and state assembly elections concurrently would reduce costs. The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha stated in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) that the Election Commission spent ‘around Rs 5,500 crore’ on elections from 2014 to 2019, adding that this sum represents ‘only a fraction’ of budgetary expenses for the federal government.
Kharge rejected the idea of holding concurrent elections and claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s national administration ‘0wants democratic India to slowly turn into a dictatorship.’ ‘One Nation, One Election’ would ‘sabotage our democracy, Constitution, and evolved, time-tested procedures,’ he claimed.
The head of the Congress also questioned the Centre’s panel, which was established to look into the viability of putting the concept of ‘One Nation, One Election,’ and which is chaired by the former president Ram Nath Kovind. Whether the committee was ‘best suited to deliberate and decide on perhaps the most drastic disruption in the Indian electoral process’ was Kharge’s question.
He referred to the committee’s creation by the Centre as a ‘gimmick’ and claimed it was a ‘cover for deconstructing India’s federal structure.’
Additionally, the head of the Congress questioned whether the decision about ‘One Nation, One Election’ should be made without first discussing the political parties at the federal and state levels. Kharge questioned whether such a massive operation should proceed without involving the States and their duly elected government agencies.
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