Thiruvananthapuram, (Samajweekly) Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday took a swipe at the BJP-led Central government over formation of a committee on ‘One Nation, One Election’, saying there is no practical way in which it can implement such system.
“I wish them well. I understand the logic… why do we want to have elections every six months here and there. They are arguing that it ultimately costs money and there is code of conduct, so there will be a paralysis of government for periods of time.
“All this arguments we understand. Your diagnosis can be right but your prescription can be wrong. The prescription can not work in a parliamentary system,” he told reporters in the Kerala capital.
“If you are in a Presidential system, where somebody is elected for a fixed term, then he/she survives whether or not the Parliament majority is gone. But, in a Parliamentary system, you don’t have that. The chief executive of the country is selected by a parliamentary majority. The moment the majority goes for… whatever the reason, the government goes. There is no practical way in which way you can implement such system,” he said.
“The second concern that many of us have is the big diversity if India. Remember from 1947 to 1967, we all had national and state elections at the same time. There are different calendars for different states (for elections). If you want to create an artificially 1967 type situation tommorow, the same thing will happen what happened there… we must have a series discussion of practicalities. We need to have a logical arguments,” he added.
“Let us see if Mr (Ram Nath) Kovind’s committee can come up with a solution. We will listen it. We have every reason for skepticism about this entire intiative.”
The government has constituted the committee on ‘One Nation, One Election’ to looking into all of its aspects. The panel will be headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind. —
