Kerala Government, Opposition terms simultaneous elections anti-federal, BJP defends the move

The Kerala government and the Opposition have slammed the Union Cabinet’s approval for simultaneous elections as an anti-federal bid to centralise power.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan posted on X: “The Union Cabinet’s approval of the Ram Nath Kovind Committee report on ‘One Nation, One Election’ escalates efforts to undermine India’s federal system. This Sangh Parivar move to push Presidential rule and subvert Constitutional values must be resisted. Democratic forces must unite to defend our democracy”. 

Mr. Vijayan said the Cabinet’s decision signalled that the BJP had learnt nothing from its poor showing in the Lok Sabha polls. He said Union Home Minister Amit Shah had sworn to implement the proposal under the current BJP disposition.

He said the move was part of a larger Sangh Parivar conspiracy to supplant the country’s parliamentary system with a presidential structure. The BJP aspired to suppress Indian parliamentary democracy’s diversity and the socio-cultural uniqueness of the States that constitute the union.

He said pushing for simultaneous elections with no regard for State-specific political dynamics risks imposing the Central government’s will and overturning electoral mandates and was an attack on democracy.

“The democratic forces of our country must stand united against these efforts by the Sangh Parivar to dismantle India’s parliamentary system and the very idea of our nation,” Mr Vijayan said. 

Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan echoed Mr. Vijayan’s sentiment. He depicted the Centre’s move to hold simultaneous elections to centralise power and curb the jurisdiction and distinctiveness of constituent States and their provincial governments. 

The BJP had ignored the geological and socio-cultural particularities of constituent States. It also wanted to erase provincial political issues from the electoral narrative by holding simultaneous polls.

Mr. Satheesan accused the BJP of attempting to upend parliamentary democracy despite clinging to power with the help of a few allies. He said the Centre’s move has kindled widespread disaffection against the BJP-led Union government. 

BJP leader and former Union Minister V. Muraeedharan said the Opposition parties’ strident views against the proposal to hold simultaneous elections in India reflected their narrow political interests.

 In a press note, he said the model code of conduct hampered development and governance and that cyclical elections also taxed the government machinery and the public exchequer. BJP State president K. Surendran echoed a similar view.