Simultaneous Polls Do Not Trample Constitution: Attorney General To Joint Panel

Attorney General R Venkatramani told a parliamentary panel on Tuesday that the bills for simultaneous elections do not trample on any feature of the Constitution and are good in law, sources said.

With a few of the legal experts who have appeared before the Joint Committee of Parliament sharing concerns of some members over certain aspects of the constitution amendment bill, R Venkatramani asserted that the proposed laws do not require any amendment, the sources said.

Opposition parties have slammed the bills as violative of the Constitution.

However, former Delhi High Court chief justice D N Patel, who is currently serving as Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal chairman, in his presentation dwelt on the positives as well as challenges facing the "One Nation One Election" proposal, noting the concept is good for the nation but adding any proposed law can always be improved on.

Justice Patel cited policy continuity, enhanced governance with a focus on long-term policies, informed voting with people in a position for better assessment of the performance of political parties and cost reductions as positives.

He, however, noted "federalism concerns with potential impact on state autonomy", a risk of national issues overshadowing regional ones besides the constitutional hurdles of the need to amend some of the Articles as among the challenges facing the proposals.

He said the tenures of some of the assemblies could be extended in a step towards synchronization of state polls with the Lok Sabha elections, an idea not part of the current bills.

The sources said Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra questioned if countries like Sweden and Belgium can be compared with a country like India when Patel cited them as examples of the global practice of simultaneous polls.

She also said all the claims about the benefits of simultaneous elections are mostly conjectures, as no study has been done.

R Venkatramani, the sources said, told the members that he is the Attorney General for India and not the government, in an apparent attempt to dispel any impression that he will side with the government's opinion on the matter.

He told the members of the committee headed by BJP MP P P Chaudhary that he would submit replies to their further questions sent to him.

Mr Chaudhary later told reporters that simultaneous elections are in the interest of the country, and the committee is deliberating on the best ways to carry it out.

The views received by legal luminaries will help the panel form its recommendations, he said.

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