Simultaneous polls will weaken federalism and Goa’s political autonomy, warns GFP
A delegation of Goa Forward Party submitting the party’s stand to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the proposed amendment to the ‘One Nation, One Election’ in the country.
Asserting that the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 on One Nation, One Election should not be proceeded with in its present form, the Goa Forward Party has submitted before the Joint Parliamentary Committee that Parliament should reform the anti-defection law by strengthening the Tenth Schedule by providing for time-bound adjudication of disqualification proceedings and stricter penalties for defections if political instability is a concern.
Making its submission before the Joint Parliamentary panel, the regional party has submitted that Parliament should pursue electoral reforms that strengthen transparency, improve governance, reduce campaign expenditure, curb political defections and modernise election management while preserving the federal balance, parliamentary character and representative diversity that form part of the Constitution’s basic structure.
Party senior leader Dilip Prabhudesai, who represented the regional party at the interaction with members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee said the Goa Forward Party submitted that the Constitution of India was consciously designed to accommodate extraordinary diversity through federalism, parliamentary democracy and representative government. “The periodic conduct of elections at different constitutional levels is not a defect requiring correction but one of the principal mechanisms through which this diversity is democratically expressed. The proposed Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024 seeks to replace constitutional flexibility with administrative uniformity,” the party stated.
While stating that objectives of reducing expenditure, improving governance and avoiding repeated elections are legitimate, the GFP said the means adopted are disproportionate to the objectives sought to be achieved.
Saying the implications of the proposed one nation, one election for Goa are especially significant, the party said, “As India’s smallest State, Goa possesses a distinct political culture shaped by coalition governments, strong local self-government institutions, environmental consciousness, a tourism-dependent economy, unique legal traditions and a vibrant regional identity. Simultaneous elections would inevitably subordinate these State-specific concerns to national political narratives, thereby weakening the ability of Goans to hold their State government independently accountable.”
The party said the strength of Indian democracy lies not in conducting every election on the same day, but in ensuring that every election reflects the independent will of the people at each level of government, asserting that Constitutional principle must remain inviolate.
The party has also called for reduction in the political Finance Campaign expenditure through transparency, disclosure requirements and greater accountability rather than constitutional restructuring. “Ultimately, there is a need to eliminate corporate donations in the elections since it is viewed as a form of bribe,” the party said, while calling for rationalisation of Model Code of Conduct through shorter polling schedules and better deployment of administrative resources.
MGP backs ONOE, but says anti-defection law must come first
PANAJI
While extending support to the Centre’s proposed ‘One Nation, One Election’ (ONOE) initiative, Minister and MGP leader Sudin Dhavalikar on Friday said the concept would succeed only if the anti-defection law is first strengthened to prevent elected legislators from switching parties and triggering political instability.
Speaking after participating in the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) consultation on the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024, Dhavalikar said he had urged the committee to first amend the disqualification provisions under the Tenth Schedule before implementing simultaneous elections.
“I support the One Nation, One Election concept. But the disqualification law and the anti-defection law must be amended first. Otherwise, there is no meaning to the ONOE concept. The whole idea is to have one election, but if defections continue, repeated elections will become inevitable,” Dhavalikar said.
Referring to Goa’s political history, the senior MGP leader said the State had witnessed repeated defections over the last 25 years, with legislators elected on one party ticket later joining another party to become ministers.
“I told the committee that what has happened in the Goa Assembly over the last 25 years should never happen again. Candidates get elected on one party’s symbol and later defect to another party for ministerial posts. This defeats the mandate of the people,” he said.
Dhavalikar said the committee appreciated the detailed discussion on Goa’s political experience and the need for legal safeguards to ensure stable governments under a simultaneous election framework.
During the interaction, Dhavalikar said that BJP MP and JPC member Anurag Thakur also referred to Goa’s political history, citing the premature dissolution of the Assembly in 2001 as an example of how governments failing to complete their full term could undermine the objective of holding simultaneous elections.
