Sharad Pawar questions PM’s idea of ‘one nation one election’

Sharad Pawar criticizes PM Modi's 'one nation, one election' idea as Election Commission delays Maharashtra and Jharkhand elections.

The National Congress (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday took a dig on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his speech from Independence Day when the PM mentioned the importance of ‘one nation, one election’. Following that, on August 16, the Election Commission of India (ECI) only declared the elections for Jammu & Kashmir and Haryana but not for Maharashtra and Jharkhand.  

“In his speech from the Red Fort, the Prime Minister put forward the idea of simultaneous elections in the entire country. Elections for Jammu & Kashmir and Haryana were announced, but not the elections for Jharkhand and Maharashtra. I wonder what the reason could be. PM Modi is talking about simultaneous elections, in such a situation, not announcing elections for Maharashtra and Jharkhand is a contradictory thing to do. There is no truth in whatever PM Modi says during his speeches,” Mr. Pawar was speaking to the press on Saturday in Nagpur.  

The ECI on Friday announced three-phase election in Jammu & Kashmir and a single-round voting in Haryana in September-October. In the year 2019, the Assembly election in Maharashtra were held along with Haryana but this time around, it is said that due to security requirements for Jammu & Kashmir, it will be announced later. Rains are given another reason for the delay.   

On Friday, the Chief Election Commission of India, Rajiv Kumar while addressing the press, said, “Maharashtra is experiencing rains and there are several festivals lined up – Ganesh festival, pitra paksh, Navratri, Deepavali. Considering all, we thought to do two elections this time as we could handle two elections at a time. Depending on the requirement of forces which is in higher tone in Jammu & Kashmir, we have decided to conduct two elections together.” 

Criticising the statement of Mr. Kumar, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray said on X (formerly Twitter), “For all that talk of ‘one nation, one election’, the ‘Entirely Compromised Commission’ states ‘constraint on security forces’ as a reason to not hold elections in Maharashtra, with simultaneous elections in J&K. What then has changed under the ‘strong leadership of the BJP’ in J&K? Terrors attacks are on the rise, which is a fact.”  

“Another reason they give is the ‘rains’ in Maharashtra and therefore they haven’t completed their formalities. Only Maharashtra has monsoons, not other States, as per the election commission. What a shame this once famed institution is turning out to be! I guess their boss isn’t yet giving them permission to hold elections in Maharashtra. Seems like the EC is giving them breathing time to allow their contractors to loot our State,” he added.