TDP supports ONOE Bill, AIMIM calls it threat to regional parties

New Delhi: The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Tuesday expressed its “unwavering support” for the NDA’s ‘One Nation, One Election’ (ONOE Bill) in the Lok Sabha, while the AIMIM opposed the proposed legislation by calling it as a threat to regional parties.

Minister of State for Communications, Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, on behalf of the TDP, hailed the Bill and cited reduced expenditure and logistical efficiency as its biggest advantage.

“News reports estimate that the Election Commission of India has spent more than Rs 6,000 crore on the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and Rs 10,000 crore in the 2024 polls,” he said.

A draft report of the Law Commission of 2018 and Niti Aayog report of 2017 suggest that if elections are held simultaneously, the cost would reduce by up to 40 per cent, he said, adding that if Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are held in one go, the voter turnout would also increase by up to 7 per cent.

Pemmasani also claimed that ‘ONOE’ would also result in savings for political parties which spend over Rs 1 lakh crore.

He said continuity in governance would also get a boost if simultaneous polls are held.

“In the last six months, three elections were held for the state. How can the machinery continue to operate if elections are held continuously,” he said.

The MoS also highlighted the ill-effects of continuous political messaging through modern media tools, even if elections are held in a different part of the country.

Taking part in the discussion, Asaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) opposed the Bill and said the ONOE violates the right to democratic self-governance.

“If a legislative Assembly is dissolved and mid-term elections are held, then the tenure of that Assembly will not be for five years. This, in itself, is a violation of parliamentary democracy that envisages a tenure of five years for a legislature,” he said, calling the truncated tenure of an elected House a violation of the basic structure of the Constitution.

Hitting out at the proposal and calling it a provision to facilitate executive convenience, instead of Constitutional purpose, he said, “Parliament is not competent to make any law that violates any fundamental rights or the basic structure of the Constitution.”

Opposing the Bill, he said it will “finish off regional parties” and it has been brought in to only “massage the ego of the supreme leader”.

Owaisi warned that the Bill is based on a principle of “maximising political gain and convenience” and it will indirectly introduce a “presidential form of democracy”.

IANS