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Lyngdoh against simultaneous elections

New Delhi, August 5
Chief Election Commissioner J M Lyngdoh today virtually rejected a proposal for holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, stating that it was unconstitutional. “It is (simultaneous elections) feasible but not according to the Constitution,’’ Mr Lyngdoh said in an interview to the NDTV.

The CEC also would not agree that frequent elections hindered governance.

Mooting the proposal for simultaneous Parliamentary and Assembly polls, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani had recently argued that frequent polls had put the government on the election mode which came in the way of development.

An NDTV press note on the interview quoted Mr Lyngdoh as saying “I don’t think these considerations are very important. It ought not to stop the government from taking important decisions if it wants to. In fact, it has not hindered anybody for all these decades.’’

The CEC also clarified that the commission had not received any formal proposal from the government on the issue. However, Law Minister Arun Jaitley had telephoned and spoken to Election Commissioner T.S. Krishnamurthy some time back and sounded him about the idea.

Mr Lyngdoh confirmed that elections to five Assemblies, which were due later this year, would be held simultaneously in November as one of the state Assemblies had to meet very early in December.

“The elections will be due in November and definitely will be held during that time,’’ he said. — UNI