The BJP’s ‘One Nation, One Election’ idea of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies in the country has sparked political debate these days.
Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said the panel was ready to conduct the elections as per legal provisions.
The CEC was briefing reporters in Bhopal on Wednesday on the preparations for the upcoming assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh.
During this, he said, “Our job is to conduct elections ahead of time. That time has been prescribed in the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act”.
Rajiv Kumar further said, “Our duty is to conduct early elections as per the constitutional provisions and the RP Act. Article 83(2) says that the term of the Parliament will be 5 years. Accordingly, Section 14 of the RP Act says that we can announce elections 6 months in advance. The situation is similar for the state legislatures as well.
The Chief Election Commissioner said that as per the legal provisions, we are always ready to conduct elections.
He said that under the provisions of the RP Act, elections can be announced 6 months before the end of the 5-year term of the government and the situation is similar for state assemblies
Last week, the Center constituted an eight-member high-level committee to examine and make recommendations on holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha, state assemblies, municipalities and panchayats, citing national interest.
On the demand for more transparency in the elections The CEC said that Webcasting will be done at 50% of the 64,523 polling stations in the state.
Of these, 5,000 polling stations will be managed by women, 1150 by youth voters and 200 by PwDs.
Rajiv Kumar said, “The commission will conduct special campaigns in constituencies with low turnout. So far, the Election Commission has identified 95 assembly constituencies in 30 districts where the voter turnout was less than the state average of 75.63 per cent. We have held meetings with the state enforcement agencies and the direction is very clear, we will not allow distribution of free items. We want inducement-free, non-violent and transparent elections.”
