One nation, one election in this term; coalition won’t stall any reforms: Govt

Since he brought in the BJP to power with a majority in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been advocating for “One Nation, One Election” — holding elections to Lok Sabha, all state Legislative Assemblies, and urban and rural local bodies (municipalities and panchayats) at the same time.

In his latest Independence Day address, too, he made a strong pitch for it, contending that frequent polls were creating hurdles in the country’s progress. A high-level committee, headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind, in March this year recommended simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies as the first step followed by synchronised local body polls within 100 days.

This requires a Constitutional amendment but, as a first step, to hold the Lok Sabha and state elections together, a ratification by states will not be required for the amendment, once it is approved by Parliament. In the second step, elections to municipalities and the panchayats will be synchronised with elections to Lok Sabha and Assemblies in such a way that local body elections are held within 100 days of the elections to Lok Sabha and Assemblies. This will require ratification by not less than one-half of the states.

The source said the Government had started preparations for conducting the Census, but a decision is yet to be taken on including a column on caste. “The process will begin soon” he said. The decadal census was not conducted in 2020 due to Covid-19 Pandemic.

The BJP, which won 240 seats, relies on its allies including TDP, Janata Dal-United and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) for its majority. Questions have been raised about their support to the one nation, one election plan but BJP leaders said that all these allies are on board and “arithmetic” would not get in the way of this “reform process.”

In August, the Centre was forced to withdraw an advertisement for filling up 45 key posts in the government through lateral entry within a day of “concerns” expressed by two of its allies, the JD(U) and LJP (Ram Vilas). Earlier, with some allies, including the JD(U), LJP and TDP, wary about the widespread changes proposed in the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, the government sent the legislation to a Joint Committee of Parliament.

Now, with the ruling party fighting election in Jammu and Kashmir, the functionary also said the BJP will consider possibilities of forming the government with Independents and smaller parties. “One thing is sure – neither the PDP, the National Conference nor the Congress will not be able to form the government there. There are 33 smaller parties contesting elections there,” he said.

As a marker, sources in the government said, projects worth at least Rs 15 lakh crore have been cleared in the first 100 days in the third term of this NDA government. Of these, projects worth Rs 3 lakh crore have been green-lit with focus on roads, railways, ports, and airways.

Arguing that the idea of employment being linked to only government jobs should be “corrected,” the top government functionary said that increasing capital expenditure to Rs 11.11 lakh crore in the infrastructure sector will lead to job creation. “The disillusionment and frustration (nirasha and hatasha) among youth over jobs is not just unfair to the government that has been taking several such steps, it’s an injustice to the youth also,” the functionary said.

In the health sector, under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, the government has extended the Rs 5 lakh per year coverage to every citizen over 70 years, and this is expected to benefit 6 crore senior citizens. The government has also increased 70,000 medical seats which “should ensure that no student would have to go abroad for medical studies,” the functionary said.