‘One nation, one election’ will be implemented in this government term: Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that the “one nation, one election” plan will be implemented in the current term of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government, The Hindu reported.

Shah said this during a press conference on the completion of 100 days of the third Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.

During the Lok Sabha election campaign in May, Shah had said that the Modi government will implement the plan in its next term if it retains power.

The BJP has been pushing for simultaneous elections, arguing that holding the Lok Sabha and the state polls at different times is a burden on the government, businesses, courts, political parties, contesting candidates and civil society.

In his Independence Day address in 2023, Modi had advocated for simultaneous elections, arguing that frequent polls were impeding the country’s progress. “The nation has to come forward for ‘one nation, one election’,” Modi had said at the time.

In September 2023, the Centre set up a committee to look into the feasibility of implementing simultaneous elections. The home minister was a member of the panel.

The report, submitted in March, said that there is a need to bring back the cycle of simultaneous elections as had been held during the initial decades after Independence.

The Opposition parties have criticised the government, saying that it has acted unilaterally in...

Read more