Over 80 per cent of people in India support the One Nation One Election proposal which seeks to hold both Parliamentary and Assembly elections simultaneously, a News18 Pulse survey has found.
The ‘News18 Pulse: One Nation, One Election’ survey found that simultaneous polls found the most backing among people in Central, East and North India with 90.7 per cent of respondents in Central India wanting the system and 84 per cent and 87.3 per cent supporting ONOE in East and North India respectively.
In December, the Lok Sabha referred the two bills on simultaneous polls to a joint committee of Parliament. The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) held its first meeting on ONOE on Wednesday to discuss the provisions of the bill.
The 39-member committee is headed by BJP MP PP Chaudhary and includes leaders like Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Congress, Sanjay Jha from JD(U), Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Shinde, AAP’s Sanjay Singh, and Kalyan Banerjee from Trinamool Congress.
Currently, India holds separate elections for Lok Sabha and State Legislative assemblies every five years. The News18 Pulse survey is based on responses recorded from a sample pool of 4,573 people across India.
The survey found that 81.2 people think that simultaneous polls will save public money and reduce expenditure while 80.8 per cent feel that fewer elections would reduce disruptions to day-to-day life by cutting down on rallies and public events.
Nearly half of the respondents expressed confidence that voters would clearly distinguish between candidates and parties in national and state elections if such an approach were adopted. Additionally, 55.9 per cent believe that conducting simultaneous elections on the same day would not lead to voter confusion.
The two ’one nation, one election’ (ONOE) bills, including one requiring an amendment in the Constitution, lay down the mechanism to hold simultaneous elections and were introduced in the Lok Sabha after a fiery debate.
The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill were introduced in the Lok Sabha during the recent Winter Session and referred to the committee.
With inputs from agencies
Link to article –
One Nation One Election: Survey shows 80% Indians back simultaneous polls | News18 Pulse
