NEW DELHI, Dec 12: Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said ‘one nation, one election’ is a “positive thought” that would allow the country to focus on development after a single round of polls.
“There is nothing wrong about it. It is a very positive thought and it is very good for the country,” the information and broadcasting minister said at the India Economic Conclave organised by Times Now.
The comments came on a day when the Union Cabinet approved a bill to pave the way for the conduct of simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
“When the bill comes, you will come to know,” Vaishnaw said to a question on whether the bill will be introduced in the ongoing Winter session of Parliament.
He said the BJP had made a very clear announcement in the manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections regarding ‘one nation, one election’ (ONOE).
“Why should the country waste so much time in conducting elections when the time for building our nation is the most important priority,” he said.
“We have such a clearly laid out path and we have such a big task in front of us, that for the next 10-15 years we should be totally focussed on getting the work done. There should be one election done and the rest of the period we should focus on doing the work for our country,” Vaishnaw said.
He said a “very respectable committee” chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind had submitted a report on ONOE where views from almost all stakeholders were considered.
Vaishnaw said since 1983, there were 26 instances when either the Law Commission, the parliamentary committee or Election Commission of India had spoken in favour of simultaneous polls. (PTI)
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