Hyderabad: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and its ally the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) attended the meeting convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for which presidents of all the political parties that have at least one member either in the Lok Sabha or in the Rajya Sabha were invited to discuss the issue of ‘one nation, one election’ proposal.
While the idea of simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and State assemblies was welcomed by the TRS, the AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi said it violated parliamentary democracy and federalism.
TRS working president K T Rama Rao, who represented the party at the meeting, speaking to reporters said, “It is definitely a welcome decision to conduct simultaneous elections whatever the practical problems.” He said that the model code of conduct which came into effect during elections when held in phases gave an impression among people that governance took a backseat.
He further said elections when held in a time-bound manner would help reduce the influence of money. Also budgeting would be made easy.
TRS would cooperate if any Constitutional amendments or other measures are required to be made for the purpose, Rama Rao, son of TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, said. However, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, who represented his party at the meeting, said simultaneous elections violated the basic structure of India’s constitution. “I reiterated our stand that simultaneous elections are inconsistent with parliamentary democracy and federalism. Therefore, they violate the basic structure of our Constitution,” he tweeted.