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Samajwadi MP from Faizabad Lok Sabha seat Awadesh Prasad on Tuesday criticised the central government over One Nation, One Election, and accused them of deviating the public from raising the issues of farmers, unemployment and inflation.
Prasad said that the Election Commission of India is "not able" to conduct by-elections on time and thinking about conducting the election for the whole country and cited the example of UP by-elections, whose were postponed. "By-elections were to be held on 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh and by-elections were held only on 9... If they are not able to conduct a by-election on the Milkipur seat, then how will they conduct elections in the entire country?... This is an attempt to avoid discussion on farmers' issues, unemployment, inflation and their failures... This is impossible," Prasad said. Election Commission rescheduled the UP by-elections date from November 13 to November 20 for nine seats. Prasad's remark comes after it was announced that Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) meeting on 'One Nation, One Election' will be held on January 8. Congress leader Salman Khurshid said that it is not an easy task to conduct a 'One Nation One Election' and that the Joint Parliamentary Committee will discuss all issues. "It is not an easy task. When the parliamentary committee sits, all the issues will be placed before it and will be discussed," Khurshid told ANI. The bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha, proposes simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies across India. It has been sent to the Joint Parliamentary Committee to have a deep discussion on the bill. The 31-member Joint Parliamentary Committee to examine the 'One Nation, One Election' Bill comprises 21 members from Lok Sabha including Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Manish Tewari, NCP's Supriya Sule, TMC's Kalyan Banerjee and BJP's PP Chaudhary, Bansuri Swaraj and Anurag Singh Thakur. Ten members from Rajya Sabha are also included in the panel. Opposition members have opposed the amendments, and have argued that the proposed change could disproportionately benefit the ruling party, giving it undue influence over the electoral process in states, and undermining the autonomy of regional parties. (ANI)
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