The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution against the Centre’s proposed ‘One Nation, One Election’ policy, calling it “undemocratic”.
The Assembly also passed a resolution on the delimitation exercise, stating that the population of 1971 (census) should be the criteria for carrying out the process, if it was to be held for ‘unavoidable reasons.’ The two resolutions were moved by Chief Minister M K Stalin, who described the ‘one nation, one poll’ proposal as ‘autocratic’.
The resolution, on the matter of ‘one nation, one election’ said, “This august House urges the Union government not to implement the ‘One Nation, One Election Policy’ as the theory of one nation, one election is against the basis of democracy; impractical; not enshrined in the Constitution of India.”
The Chief Minister dubbed as a conspiracy the proposed move to carry on with the delimitation exercise after the year 2026, based on the census, adding that it would lead to a drop in the number of elected representatives for Tamil Nadu and the southern states.
In March 2023, then Union Minister of Law and Justice, Kiren Rijiju had said in Rajya Sabha that the next delimitation exercise may be conducted after the first census to be taken after the year 2026.
“The one nation one election is out-and-out impractical and it is against the basic feature of the Constitution. It is fully opposed to the Constitutional guarantee of independent, free and fair polls,” the chief minister said.
Stalin said, both the proposals impinged on democracy and must be opposed in unison.
Both the resolutions were passed in the House by voice vote.
(With PTI inputs)