The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday, February 14, adopted a resolution against the Union Government’s ‘One Nation, One Election’ plan, terming it an attack on state rights. The One Nation One Election concept aims to hold simultaneous elections for all state Assemblies and the Lok Sabha. Calling it a “comic plan”, Chief Minister MK Stalin said in Assembly, “Is it possible to carry out Parliamentary elections and state elections on the same day? In the current scenario, it is not even possible to conduct the Parliamentary elections in one day across the country. It will take a magic trick to be able to conduct Parliamentary elections and 30 state elections in such a situation in one day.”
“Those with a majority in the Parliament are soon going to be rejected by the people. No one should become victims to those who are trying to change or damage the Constitution that grants state rights, alliance politics, equal opportunities for all. Therefore we must strongly oppose the plan of One Nation, One Election for the elections to the Parliament, state Assembly, urban bodies and panchayats,” Stalin further said.
The resolution reportedly had the support of the DMK’s allies: VCK, Congress, MDMK, CPI and CPI(M).
The Tamil Nadu Assembly also unanimously passed a resolution against the delimitation of Lok Sabha seats. “There is a plot to reduce the representation of the people of the south, particularly from Tamil Nadu in the Parliament. This needs to be nipped in the bud. Delimitation is like a knife hanging over the necks of Tamil Nadu and other southern states.”
Stalin further added, “This is a punishment to the states that have made strident efforts and reduced population growth. Because of the reduced population, the representation of the people in Parliament will reduce. The states that have not worked to reduce population will be awarded and their representation will increase. We cannot accept this. We must oppose it.”