In this term one nation, one election would be prioritized; reforms won’t be stalled by coalition: Govt

As it has been observed, despite the fact that BJP was in a minority, The NDA government will be implementing “ one nation, one election,” in its present tenure, this was said by a top government functionary on Sunday. Even he insisted that “ there shouldn’t be any confusion about the sthayi niti ( policy stability) under a government who have been elected for a third successive term after 60 years”.

There was no area found where the NDA government, which had completed 100 days of its third term on  Sunday, had not prioritized taking policy decisions to proceed with the work it had commenced 10 years ago, the functionary said. The functionary had further stated that “ If it has to be the defence, space, external and home affairs, and making India a manufacturing hub, spending Rs 11 lakh crore yearly on building infrastructure, mahila- yuva- garib- kisan we are initiating ourselves and carrying on the the work that was started in 2014. It was also stated that our foreign policy has a  backbone today, which wasn’t present under previous governments”.

PM Modi’s priority towards “one nation, one election”

Since, the BJP was brought to power with a majority in 2014 by the functionary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been opting for “ One Nation, One Election” – commencing elections to Lok Sabha, all state Legislative Assemblies, and urban and rural local bodies at the same time.

At his latest Independence Day address, he gave a strong pitch that frequent polls were giving way to hurdles in the country’s progress. This year in March a level committee, headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind, opted for simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies as its first step followed with synchronized local body polls within 100 days.

Picture credit: The Indian Express

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

As stated by the source the Government had begun the preparations for commencing the census, but a decision is pending on adding up a column on caste. He said that “ the process will be conducted soon”. The census was not conducted in 2020 due to Covid – 19 Pandemic.

The centre and its allies 

Despite winning 240 seats the BJP relies on its allies which includes TDP, Janata Dal- United and Lok Janshakti Party ( Ram Vilas) for its majority. Moreover questions have been raised about their take on the one nation, one election plan but BJP leaders stated that all these allies are active and wouldn’t be getting into the way of this “ reform process”.

Recently, in August, the Centre was asked to take back an advertisement for filling up 45 key posts in the Government. It was done through lateral entry as expressed by two of its allies, the JD(U) and LJP( Ram Vilas). Some allies such as the JD(U), LJP and TDP were cautious regarding the widespread changes proposed in the Waqf ( Amendment) Bill; this legislation was sent by the government to a Joint Committee of Parliament.

Picture credit: PTC news

Currently, the ruling party is fighting elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the functionary stated that BJP will consider possibilities of making the governments with Independents and smaller parties. “ Neither the PDP, the National Conference nor the Congress will be able to form the government. There have been 33 smaller parties contesting elections there”, he said. 

Sources said that projects of at least Rs 15 lakh crore have been cleared in the first 100 days in the third term of this NDA government. Projects of Rs 3 lakh crore have been green- lit with focus on roads, railways, ports and airways.

There has been contentions regarding the idea of employment  being linked to only government jobs, which should be ‘corrected’, the top government functionary said that increasing capital expenditure upto Rs 11.11 lakh crore in the infrastructure sector will lead to job creation. “ The frustration among youths over jobs is not just unfair to the government which has been taking several steps for it, it is also an injustice to the youth”, the functionary said.

Under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, in the health sector, the government has forwarded Rs 5 lakh per year coverage to every citizen over 70 years, and this is expected to favour 6 crore senior citizens. THe government has also expanded 70,000 medical seats which “ should ensure the prevention of students going abroad for medical studies”, the functionary said.