One Nation One Election: Voters can distinguish between national, state issues, says JPC chief

Voters are intelligent enough to distinguish between issues concerning assembly and Lok Sabha polls and know who to vote for if elections are held simultaneously, said PP Chaudhary, chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on 'One Nation One Election', on Thursday.

Addressing concerns raised during consultations in Gujarat over the proposed 'One Nation One Election' system, Chaudhary asserted that Indian voters, particularly those in rural areas, possess the political awareness to differentiate between national, state and local issues while casting their votes.

Media representatives interacted with the committee on Thursday at GIFT City in Gandhinagar and raised apprehensions that simultaneous elections could overshadow state-specific and local governance issues with national narratives.

''Voters today are even more informed. They know who to vote for if elections are held simultaneously. Their critical thinking ability should not be underestimated. Voters know exactly which party to support based on the issue at hand in Lok Sabha, assembly or local body elections,'' Chaudhary told reporters after the conclusion of the JPC's three-day visit to Gujarat.

Citing Delhi as an example, the BJP MP said voters in the national capital elected BJP candidates in all seven Lok Sabha seats, while supporting the Aam Aadmi Party in Assembly elections held separately.

''Such examples exist in other states too. In Rajasthan, one party may form the state government while another party wins a majority of Lok Sabha seats. Therefore, apprehensions about voter confusion are misplaced,'' he said.

The JPC, headed by Chaudhary, began its Gujarat tour on May 19 to gather views from stakeholders on simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

On the final day of consultations at GIFT City near Gandhinagar, the panel interacted with advocates, NGOs, industrial associations, educationists and representatives of the media fraternity.

During the discussions, representatives of industry bodies such as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), ASSOCHAM and the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) expressed support for the proposal.

A representative of CII suggested that migrant workers should be provided e-voting facilities, noting that industries suffer production losses during elections because labourers often return to their native places to vote.

Referring to the issue, Chaudhary said migrant labourers across the country leave their workplaces during elections to travel home for voting, causing massive disruption to production and economic activity.

''The loss caused due to this migration of labourers during elections is incalculable and cannot even be quantified,'' he said.

Vice-Chancellor of Gujarat University Dr Neerja Gupta also supported the proposal while flagging concerns related to disruption of academic schedules during frequent elections.

She told the committee that university examinations are often affected because teaching and administrative staff are deployed for election duties.

Referring to recent local body polls in Gujarat, Gupta said final examinations had to be postponed till May due to election-related deployment, resulting in curtailment of summer vacations.

Delays in the academic calendar also impose an additional financial burden on the government, as international students studying in India become eligible for extended scholarship support due to prolonged academic sessions, she added.

Chaudhary said similar concerns were raised in Punjab and Haryana during the JPC's earlier visits, where education institutions had extended unconditional support to simultaneous elections, arguing that repeated polls disrupt academic schedules and adversely affect students.

The Congress voiced objections during its interaction with the JPC on Wednesday.

A Congress delegation led by Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda argued that simultaneous elections would suppress local issues and create confusion among voters if parliamentary, assembly and local body polls were held together.

''If elections are held simultaneously, national narratives will dominate and local issues of states will get overshadowed,'' Chavda had said.

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel met the committee on Wednesday and extended support for simultaneous elections.

Addressing the press after the conclusion of the Gujarat visit on Thursday, Chaudhary described 'One Nation One Election' as a reflection of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's far-sighted vision aimed at transforming India into a developed nation by 2047.

''Holding Lok Sabha and Assembly elections separately causes a direct financial loss of Rs 7 lakh crore to the country's economy, according to reports presented before the committee. Apart from financial costs, separate elections also result in massive non-quantifiable indirect losses to the nation,'' he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)