'Not mentioned in Constitution': Mamata outlines objections to ‘One Nation, One Election’

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday wrote to Niten Chandra, secretary of the high-level committee on One Nation, One Election, highlighting her objections to the proposed system.

In her letter, not as the chief minister, but as the chairperson of TMC (Trinamool Congress), she argued that the Constitution conceives of the Indian nation in a federal manner, resulting in the parallel existence of one Union government and several state governments.

"If the framers of the Indian Constitution did not mention the concept of ‘One Nation, One Election’, how have you arrived at the concept of ‘One Nation, One Election’? Unless this basic enigma is sorted, it is difficult to arrive at any firm view on the catchy phrase," she wrote in the letter, a copy of which is available with the media.

In the letter, the chief minister also raised the point of an eventuality where the Lok Sabha is subjected to untimely dissolution while the state Assemblies have unaffected longevity.

"Instability of a government at the Centre and consequent impact on the Parliament should not destabilise the State legislatures, to be sure! How does your esteemed committee propose to navigate these questions?" she asked.

According to her, it seems that the Union government is attempting to impose a structure that is against the spirit of a truly democratic and federal structure as laid down in the Indian Constitution.

"We object to the most unrepresentative composition of the Committee and point out that no chief ministers are taken on board for fear of receiving practical objections," she wrote.

Banerjee also said that she doubts if the high-level committee is seriously interested in analysing the demerits of the case. "I further suspect that it fails to consider that Parliamentary elections and state Legislative elections are substantially different in nature," the chief minister wrote.