BackReady for 'One nation, one election', says election commissioner chief
Election Commission chief Sushil Chandra backed the idea of 'One Nation One Election' and added that he is fully prepared and capable of conducting simultaneous elections
PremiumElection Commission chief Sushil Chandra backed the idea of 'One Nation One Election' and added that he is fully prepared and capable of conducting simultaneous elections.
"According to the Constitution, all the elections should be held simultaneously. The parliament elections that are held since independence, three of them are simultaneous. It is only later that sometimes the Assembly was dissolved, sometimes parliament, which disturbed the schedule. One Nation One Election is a good suggestion but this needs a change in the constitution," Chandra told ANI news agency.
An assembly that will not be able to complete the 5-year term in the Assembly will have to think about whether we can abolish it under the Constitution or we need to increase the tenure of parliament for simultaneous election in the country, Chandra added.
Talking about the just concluded election in five states, Chandra said banning the rallies and padyatras was a tough decision. "When this election process started which we start from September, October, no one knew that the third wave of coronavirus was to come. But as we approached December, we felt that the Omicron was spreading. The commission discussed with the Union Health Secretary and talked to the Chief Secretary of the State and the State Health Secretary. We found that the COVID is spreading," he said.
"In some of the states, not everyone has been vaccinated, so the commission decided that there will be no physical rally in the first week of the beginning and there will be no padyatras, only a digital rally and at the same time you can do door-to-door campaigning, which is also in restricted numbers. The basic concept of commission is that the vote should be safe and the voter should also be safe," he said.
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