New Delhi: The Congress is firming up its position and mobilizing support against the Centre’s 'one nation, one election' bill likely to be introduced in the coming winter session of parliament.
According to Congress insiders, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) does not have the required numbers in the Lok Sabha where it will need a two thirds majority to push a constitutional amendment needed to clear the 'one nation, one election' plan.
According to Congress insiders, the NDA only has 293 members in the 543 member House but would need 362 members to clear the constitutional amendment.
"It is obvious that the NDA does not have the numbers in the Lok Sabha. Hence, if the government brings any such bill in the winter session it will face strong opposition. We will also mobilize support of the INDIA bloc in the House over the issue. We believe it is an impractical idea,” Lok Sabha MP Praniti Shinde told ETV Bharat.
The 'one nation, one election' report was recently approved by the Union Cabinet and will require a two thirds majority in either house of Parliament to become a law as it requires a constitutional amendment.
The Congress strategists are excited that not only the grand old party but several of its allies and other regional parties are also against the Centre’s plan. That explains the opposition's attempts to frame its own narrative against the idea and the specific points which will sound logical.
Over the past few days, Congress allies SP, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), RJD came out publicly against the ‘one nation, one election’ plan saying it was a BJP conspiracy. AAP slammed the Centre’s move to push simultaneous elections in the country saying the ruling party wanted to abdicate responsibility while West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee termed it an attack on the federal structure.
Accordingly, the opposition grouping will dub the 'one nation, one election' idea an attack on the federal structure which will pave the way for the dismissal of state governments in an arbitrary fashion if the BJP wanted so.
The opposition will also tell the people how in 1952 elections were held together in the entire country but it could not be done later as state governments fell and President's Rule was imposed. In this background, there is no guarantee that the same will not happen in the future.
The second point against the ‘one nation, one election’ idea is that it will not help save money and will not hamper policy formation as is being projected by the BJP.
According to Congress insiders, if the government is so keen to save money why doesn't it think twice before waving tax worth thousands of crores of rupees on the big corporates. Further, the opposition will argue that any government gets a full five-year term to frame policies which is sufficient.
"Whenever elections come, they present some fancy ideas. Why could not Assembly polls in Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra and Jharkhand be held together in the first place? All this is to deflect public attention from the issue of jobs and high prices,” All India Congress Committee (AICC) functionary Ajoy Kumar told ETV Bharat.
