Want simultaneous polls? Dissolve LS, hold early general election: Congress

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 14
The Congress on Tuesday dared the Prime Minister to dissolve the Lok Sabha early and hold the next general election along with the upcoming polls to four states.

Congress general secretary, organisation, Ashok Gehlot took the lead saying the Congress would welcome an early dissolution of the Lok Sabha and simultaneous election to the next Lok Sabha along with the polls in Mizoram, Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh.

The suggestion comes in the wake of BJP chief Amit Shah’s pitch for ‘one nation one election’.

The BJP is talking of postponing the upcoming state polls and holding 11 state elections with that of the Lok Sabha next year—a move the Congress calls “constitutionally impossible”.

“There is only one way the PM can hold simultaneous polls. He can dissolve the Lok Sabha early and hold the general election with state elections. But the BJP is anguished and fears defeat in the four upcoming state polls. If they lose those polls, with what face will they go into the Lok Sabha election, that is why the BJP is stressing on postponing state elections to be held with the general election,” Gehlot said.

The Congress argues that the Constitution will have to be amended to postpone the upcoming state polls. “We will move court if they do that,” Congress legal cell chief Vivek Tankha said.

The Congress says people would be too happy if the 16th Lok Sabha is dissolved earlier.  “The country is living in fear. Let the PM dissolve the Lok Sabha,” Gehlot said.