One nation, one election: 'EC is ready but onus is on parliamentarians', says new CEC OP Rawat

As per reports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants all parties on board to support the agenda of simultaneous polls.

With the idea of simultaneous elections to both the Central and state governments gaining momentum in recent times, the newly appointed Chief Election Commissioner, OP Rawat, has said that it is up to the parliamentarians to bring a law.

As per reports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants all parties on board to support the agenda of simultaneous polls, which is being touted as the biggest political reform in the country since Independence.

"It was the prerogative of our parliamentarians to make the law (for simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls) but if required the ECI was prepared to conduct the polls, even the 2019 Lok Sabha polls..The Election Commission has been set up to conduct free and fair polls and nothing is impossible. We can do it if we are determined to do it," Rawat reportedly said after taking charge of the EC.

The think tank led by BJP MP Dr Vinay Sahasrabuddhe had earlier organised a two-day national seminar to discuss the idea of holding simultaneous elections.

In the initial decades after Independence, elections for governments at both the Centre and states were held at the same time. But over time, with governments falling before they had served their entire terms, elections became desynchronised. Every year now, some state or another has an election.

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