‘One Nation, One Election’ Bill threatens to alter India’s polity forever, says T.N. CM Stalin

Observing that the BJP lacked the majority to pass the critical legislation for ‘One Nation, One Election’ (ONOE), DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Monday (December 16, 2024) said democratic forces must unite and fight tooth and nail against this “abomination imposed in the garb of electoral reform” to save India, its diversity, and the Constitution.

Observing that the BJP lacked the majority to pass the critical legislation for ‘One Nation, One Election’ (ONOE), DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Monday (December 16, 2024) said democratic forces must unite and fight tooth and nail against this “abomination imposed in the garb of electoral reform” to save India, its diversity, and the Constitution.

In a social media post, Mr. Stalin shared an article titled, ‘Why simultaneous elections are impractical and complicated’, published in The Hindu.

The Union government sought to push the legislation with an “ulterior motive” of conducting a Presidential form of election, which was against the spirit of the Constitution, he said. “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,” Mr. Stalin added.

The DMK chief contended that the legislation threatened to “alter India’s polity forever.” Though the BJP lacked the majority to pass the Bill, Mr. Stalin said, “a brazen attempt is being made to settle scores and deflect attention from the BJP’s 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,” he added.

The INDIA bloc, Mr. Stalin said, would resist the “anti-federal & impractical” ONOE as it would “push the country into the perils of unitary form of governance, killing its diversity and democracy in the process.”