'One Nation One Election' Will Ensure Uninterrupted Governance: Uttarakhand CM Dhami To JPC

News18

21-05-2025

Last Updated:
Dhami strongly advocated for the implementation of this initiative, which he said would be great for hilly states like Uttarakhand
On Wednesday, the joint parliamentary committee examining the One Nation One Election plan moved from Mumbai to its next destination, Uttarakhand. The committee meeting was held in Dehradun, the capital city of Uttarakhand. Apart from several officials and the Uttarakhand assembly speaker who came before the committee, state chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami came to the meeting in support of the legislation that is being proposed.
Dhami strongly advocated for the implementation of this initiative, which he said would be great for hilly states like Uttarakhand, whose demography is much different when compared to the plains. 'Uttarakhand is a state where the wrath of nature is evident during the monsoons. Between June and September, it is impossible to hold any elections here," he said. The CM also added that the months of April to May could be a good time to hold polls in the state. However, he said, frequent elections ensure that several departments take a backseat, affecting governance.
Dhami is said to have quoted that in the last assembly election, the expenditure ran into Rs 162 crore, whereas the 2024 Lok Sabha election officially cost Rs 212 crore. 'If we have both the elections together, it will help the state utilise its money better. If we go by the sheer numbers, we will save 40% of the expense if both elections are held together. This 40% expense saved can be used for the development of the state and to take Uttarakhand's contribution towards Viksit Bharat," he said.
'The last five years have seen more than 175 days of productive work lost due to the imposition of the model code of conduct and elections, but that is also not including the Panchayati Raj elections; else, the number would be much larger," Dhami pointed out. 'Given the tough terrain of the state, it is pretty difficult for voters to stay enthusiastic to come and vote for every election. It is a tough task to conduct the election in a state where, in certain locations, it takes the election teams close to 3 days to reach."
'Elections, multiple times, do not only cause a break in governance but also impact one of the most important aspects of governance, which is education," said Dhami. He argued that Uttarakhand does not have too much private infrastructure, and most of the schooling is in government-run schools. 'When we have elections, we need to pull out teachers from schooling duties. 45,000 teachers from 16,000 government schools get deployed for elections, which actually causes a significant dent in the continuity of education," the Uttarakhand chief minister added.
Speaking in the same tone as Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, who says that there is no threat to the existence of regional parties in case of this initiative getting implemented, Dhami also argued that people are smart, and they know exactly what and who they have to vote for. People today understand what national issues are and what regional issues can be, and are capable of voting separately. 'We should not undermine the wisdom of our people to cast their vote," Dhami is said to have told the meeting.
The panel was announced during the last winter session of Parliament after the Centre said it was keen on sending the bill for parliamentary scrutiny after its introduction in the Lok Sabha. It is headed by former minister and Lok Sabha MP PP Chaudhary and has 39 members, including Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
The panel has several eminent lawyers like MPs Manish Tewari, P Wilson and Kalyan Banerjee. Other opposition MPs who are part of the panel are Supriya Sule from the NCP (SP), Randeep Surjewala and Mukul Wasnik from the Congress, and Anil Desai from Shiv Sena (UBT).
On the ruling side, members include former union minister Anurag Singh Thakur, Baijayant Panda, Bhartruhari Mahtab, and Anil Baluni from the BJP. Shrikant Shinde from the Shiv Sena and Harish Balayogi from the TDP, among others, are also part of the JPC.