'One Nation, One Election' is cost-effective: K'taka BJP

Bengaluru, Sep 18 (IANS) Karnataka BJP chief B.Y. Vijayendra on Wednesday praised the decision of the Union government to implement ‘One Nation, One Election,’ calling it not only a sensible decision but also a historic one.

He said that the primary objective behind this decision was the nation's interest while pointing out that simultaneous elections were held in 1951 and 1967, and the Law Commission in its 170th report in 1999 had recommended holding elections for the Lok Sabha and all state assemblies every five years referring to the points from the report submitted by the high-level committee led by former President Ram Nath Kovind.

“The plan is to first conduct simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and all state assemblies, followed by elections for district panchayats, taluk panchayats, gram panchayats, municipalities, and other local bodies within 100 days of the general elections. This is a highly commendable step,” he said.

He said that the use of a single voter list for all elections is possible under this system.

Vijayendra also emphasised that India, with its 28 states and 140 crore people, is a vast democratic nation, and conducting Lok Sabha and state assembly elections involves substantial costs.

“A significant amount of labour from government employees is also spent during the elections,” he added.

He said that the political parties and candidates have had to spend thousands of crores of rupees on elections while PM Modi’s visionary decision is to save the country’s money and use it for development, transforming costly elections into more economical ones.

--IANS

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