”One Nation One Election” constitutionally unsustainable: Udayanidhi Stalin

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 6 (PTI) The Union government’s plan to carry out the ‘one nation-one election’ process will be an assault on federalism in the country and is constitutionally unsustainable, Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udayanidhi Stalin said on Thursday.

“The proposal violates the basic structure of Constitution that affirms federalism,” he said speaking at the sixth edition of the Mathrubhumi international festival of letters (MBIFL) here.

He said in such a system, if a state government falls due to parties switching alliances or loss of confidence, the state must wait for alignment with the national cycle for the next poll.

“This undermines Article 174 and violates the basic structure of federalism,” he said.

Udayanidhi also strongly criticised the Centre’s move to carry out delimitation of Lok Sabha seats based on the latest operational census, which will have a significant impact on southern states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

“This is the reward for states which have effectively implemented population control programmes,” he commented.

If the new delimitation is implemented, Tamil Nadu and Kerala would lose their current representation in the Parliament. This seems to be a clear agenda to reduce the voice of the southern states, he said.

“We cannot and will not accept a system where the governor’s office is weaponised to undermine elected governments,” Udayanidhi added.

He said all parties of the INDIA bloc have already come out against the latest draft guidelines of the University Grants Commission (UGC) which recommends various measures on educational matters including appointment of vice chancellors to universities.

“We cannot accept a system where education, the very tool of empowerment, is taken out of the hands of the people and centralised in Delhi,” Udayanidhi said.

He also alleged that the Centre had totally ignored both Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the union budget.

Earlier, Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar inaugurated the MBIFL at the Kanakakkunnu palace here by lighting the traditional lamp.

Eminent litterateur T Padmanabhan was the chief guest at the function, presided over by Mathrubhumi managing director M V Shreyams Kumar.