Odisha: BJD to meet Law Commission over simultaneous polls on July 10

Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) will place its stand on the proposed idea of simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies before the Law Commission on July 10.

This was informed to the media by BJD’s Lok Sabha MP Pinaki Mishra this afternoon, saying holding simultaneous elections was first proposed by his party President and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

“The Law Commission has asked us to be present at his office in New Delhi at 3 pm on Tuesday (July 10). I will present a written representation on the party’s view point. The chief minister took a bold step by going for simultaneous polls in 2004. The Chief Minister is the originator of the idea and therefore the party supports it,” Mishra said.

The Chief Minister had, earlier, extended support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for simultaneous elections.

Notably, on June 26, Chairman of the Law Commission BS Chauhan in a letter to the Chief Minister had sought his opinion on the proposal.

The Law Commission has invited all the national and recognised state political parties to hold consultations on Saturday and Sunday on the practicality of conducting simultaneous polls.

The Commission has prepared a draft paper on “Simultaneous Elections – Constitutional and Legal Perspectives” and has sought opinions of “all stakeholders” including political parties, constitutional experts, bureaucrats and academicians on the paper before finalising its report and sending it to the government.

On Sunday, parties that came to articulate their views before the law panel included the DMK, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), Samajwadi Party, TRS, JD-S and AAP.

While Samajwadi Party, TRS supported the idea of ‘one-nation-one-election’, some like the AAP and JD-S questioned the sincerity of the Centre towards poll reforms.

The Congress and the BJP were absent the second day of the discussions too.