Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong today supported the Central government move to implement ‘one nation, one election’ in the country.
Speaking to media persons here today, Tynsong said that in his personal opinion, ‘one nation, one election’ was required in order to save public money, manpower and time.
“My personal opinion is if we have one nation, one election we will be able to save a lot of time, we will be able to save a lot of funds and we will be able to save a lot of manpower,” Tynsong said.
“Once you have an election, even the model code of conduct has to be implemented every now, every six months or seven months which ultimately affects the overall developmental programmes of the State and Central government,” he added.
It may be noted that the Centre through the Law Ministry has set up a committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind to examine the possibility of a system of ‘one nation, one election’, under which simultaneous elections would be held for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
As per the notification issued on September 2, the committee will examine and make recommendations for holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies, municipalities and Panchayats, keeping in view the existing framework under the Constitution of India and other statutory provisions, and for that purpose, examine and recommend specific amendments to the Constitution, the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and the rules made thereunder and any other law or rules which would require amendments for the purpose of holding simultaneous elections.
The committee will analyse and recommend possible solutions if there are scenarios like hung House, adoption of no-confidence motion or defection.
The eight-member committee will suggest a framework for the synchronisation of the elections and also the time frame within which the simultaneous elections may be held. The committee will examine the logistics and manpower required, including EVMs, VVPATs etc, for holding such simultaneous elections.
Simultaneous elections for the state assemblies and the Lok Sabha were held till 1967. However, in 1968 and 1969, some legislative assemblies were dissolved prematurely followed by the dissolution of the Lok Sabha in 1970.
