‘You have to suffer for five years if you have One Nation, One Election’, says Jairam Ramesh
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has criticised the idea of "One Nation, One Election".
New Delhi, July 14: In a scathing attack against the proposal to bring "One Nation, One Election" by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said,"You have to suffer for five years if you have 'One Nation, One Election'."
At an event in the national capital on Friday, Ramesh said, "By supporting 'One Nation, One Election', you are denying yourself the ability to enforce some accountability of the executive. It is the debacle in successive elections in the last 12 months but has made the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi more aware of the concerns of farmers, unemployed, rural landless labour."
"If you have had 'One Nation, One Election', you elect somebody and then for the next five years you have no opportunity whatsoever of making your voice heard. We are a system in which our voice is heard only through elections," he added.
By supporting 'one nation one election', you are denying yourself the ability to enforce some accountability of the executive. It is the debacle in successive polls,in the last 12 months that has made PM more aware of concerns of farmers and unemployed etc: Jairam Ramesh,Congress pic.twitter.com/W5pTdWyJTS
— ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2018
Like Ramesh, former vice president Hamid Ansari too had rejected the idea mooted by the BJP.
In an interview to News18, Ansari said, "India is a diverse land. To have the thought of one big country our size having one election is just an unworkable idea. You require security to move in multiple phases even during an Assembly election. So how are you going to provide security across the nation if polls were to be held simultaneously?"
Currently, the Law Commissioner is preparing a report on simultaneous elections after a discussion with various political parties.