DIMAPUR, JANUARY 15 (MExN): The Naga People’s Front (NPF) today stated that the concept of One Nation, One Election (ONOE) would defeat the spirit of federal structure of India and is a “direct assault on the very essence and fabric of the democratic features.”
The NPF said this in a letter to Dr Niten Chandra, Secretary of the High Level Committee on One Nation One Election, following the commissions letter seeking suggestions from political parties on the matter of simultaneous election of Lok Sabha and State Assembly.
Keeping in mind the composition of the multi-ethnicity of the citizens of Indian Union, the NPF noted that various States have been created at different Stages with different reasons. “Even in the recent past many more new States have been created mainly on linguistic line and some States especially Nagaland was born out of Political Agreement hence a notion such as ONOE is detrimental to India as a developing Nation which has earned a name in the comity of Nations as a country of Unity in Diversity,” it maintained. It stated that the idea of homogeneity or a- one size-fits all will be “wishful thinking” and “repulsive.”
The NPF pointed out that large chunks of electorates normally turn up in both Parliamentary and Assembly elections basically reposing their faith on the Regional Political Parties. This, the party said, is because many a time National Political Parties inadequately addresses the regional and local issues resulting into regional imbalances even in terms of developmental projects.
Meahwhile, it said that one of the fundamental objectives of the Regional Political Parties is to effectively protect and defend the distinct identity, culture, tradition, customary and religious practices of its people which in turn attract and inspire its citizens particularly the poor local people at the grass-root to take interests in the electoral process.
As such, the party argued that the voter turn up and voting percentage would be drastically reduced if the theory of ONOE is propounded. “Thereby the much acclaimed celebration of Indian democracy which is normally measured from the voter turn up point of view would speedily erode and it will be a thing of the past,” it added.
The NPF further observed that the proponent of ONOE is specifically from the reduction of expenditure point of view in the conduct of elections. However, it said that election related expenditure reduction measures cannot be adopted at the cost of Federalism. “Moreover, ONOE will hardly make any difference in reducing the election related expenditures,” it said.
The NPF instead stated that there is always a scope to amend the Representation of Peoples Act by way of incorporating stringent measures in regulating the overall election expenditures. It informed that the overall election expenditure amounts to approximately 0.33% of the GDP and for a country whose GDP is about Rs. 300 Lakh Cr., “the cost is not too much.” In addition to this, the expenditures on subsidies, freebies etc offered to attract voters by the Political Parties are also estimated to cost only 1-2% of the GDP which is also projected as not too much, rather reasonable, the NPF argued.
‘Too abstruse for Indian masses’
Meanwhile, the NPF pointed out that amongst the countries practicing Parliamentary Government at, there are only few countries such as South Africa, Belgium and Sweden where List Party Proportional Representation (LPPR) system is followed.
It noted that in Indian democracy however, the system of First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) is in operation since independence and has proven to be successful as the electorates know their Representatives (MP/MLA) in person and thus making things easier for the electorates to ventilate their grievances.
“The LPPR system is indeed unfamiliar to many countries. This system actually delinks the electorates from its representatives. The electorates have no ability to determine the identity of the leader/person who will represent them. The geographical linkage between the representatives and the electorates is also lost,” it said.
If ONOE is to be introduced, the NPF noted that overhauling of the Indian Constitution will be necessitated and most probably end up in adopting a system of LPPR which is “too abstruse for the Indian masses as majority of the Indian population lives in the villages.” A system which is applicable in other countries particularly European countries will be far-fetch for the Indian electorates till India becomes a fully developed nation, it added.
‘Would overshadow regional, local issues’
The NPF further stated that once simultaneous election of Lok Sabha and State Assembly is imposed, the relevancy of the Regional Political Parties would also diminish as National agenda will overshadow regional and local issues.
“National Political Parties would take upper hand by using all sorts of tantalizing propaganda with an intention to hammer the Regional Political Parties and ultimately lead to One Party Rule which is akin to communist type of government that will only invite chaos and confusion in the Indian polity as it will be a direct threat to Indian democracy,” the party stated.
It also argued that use of money power and misuse of government machineries would be rampant during election by the National Political Parties to wrestle power if simultaneous election is held for both Parliamentary and State Assembly. This will definitely vitiate the atmosphere of free and fair election as well which will be another bigger threat to Indian democracy, it added.
