After encountering protests from the Opposition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said nobody should be pressurised on 'one nation, one election', but the issue should continue to be discussed across the country.
“On the issue of one nation, one poll, there should be no pressure, but there should be the debate,” Modi said in his concluding address to the BJP National Executive meeting here.
According to Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Modi said it was necessary to have a debate on the idea of 'one nation, one poll'.
“The discussion should not be limited to political circles, bar associations, youth parliament, teachers associations, trade bodies, everybody should discuss this,” Modi said.
He said elections involve huge costs, security personnel need to be deployed for protection of ballot units, officers need to be deployed every time elections are held and also leads to misuse of time.
Modi has been pitching the idea of 'one nation, one poll', but has run into opposition with most political parties speaking against it.
A number of political parties including the Congress, Trinamool Congress, DMK, TDP, Left parties, JD(S), AAP, have opposed the proposal during the consultations held by the law commission.
Chief Election Commissioner Om Prakash Rawat had a word of caution on simultaneous polls when he recently said that the legal framework required for holding the two elections together would take a “lot of time” to get ready.
“We cannot put the cart before the horse. Logistical issues are subservient to the legal framework. Unless legal framework is in place, we don’t have to talk about anything else because the legal framework will take a lot of time, making a Constitutional amendment to (changing) the law, all the process will take time,” he had said.