North News
New Delhi, September 16
Despite the BJP being in the minority, the NDA government will implement “One Nation, One Election” during its current tenure, a senior government official told the news outlet The Indian Express on Sunday. This announcement comes with the assurance that “there should be no confusion about the sthayi niti (policy stability) under a government re-elected for a third successive term after 60 years.”
“There isn’t a single area where the NDA government, which marked 100 days of its third term on Sunday, has not made policy decisions to continue the work initiated a decade ago,” the official further informed the news outlet. The government functionary highlighted progress across multiple sectors include defence, space, external and home affairs, education, digital India, and transforming India into a manufacturing hub. The official also mentioned that the government is spending ₹11 lakh crore annually on infrastructure and focusing on the welfare of women, youth, the poor, and farmers (mahila-yuva-garib-kisan). “Even our foreign policy has a backbone today, which was missing under previous governments,” the official noted.
Since coming to power with a majority in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a proponent of “One Nation, One Election” — a plan to hold simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha, state Legislative Assemblies, and local bodies (municipalities and panchayats).
A high-level committee, chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind, recommended in March this year that the first step be synchronizing elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, followed by local body polls within 100 days.
