From panchayats to civil society: BJP mounts pan-India outreach for public support to ONOE
The ruling BJP has launched a pan-India campaign to raise awareness about its ambitious plan for simultaneous elections and build broad public consensus around it.
From panchayats to civil society, the advocacy is being guided by a central BJP committee led by Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan with BJP general secretary Sunil Bansal as national coordinator. State-level panels have been formed to take the plan forward. Former Haryana BJP chief OP Dhankar is coordinating the outreach in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
The idea, sources say, is to flag the benefits of constitutional amendment Bills on ‘one nation, one election’ (ONOE) the government introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2024 and create public support for these. The Bills are currently with a joint parliamentary committee.
The BJP outreach is focused on facilitating meetings on the need for ONOE with various sections of society (academia, doctors, lawyers, traders, ex-servicemen, youth, women, farmers and sportspersons) and elected bodies (panchayats, nagar palikas and zila parishads).
Party leaders, however, insist the programme is not political.
“Civil society is leading these meetings — there are no BJP banners, symbols, or images of party leaders on display,” said a source.
Deliverables of the campaign include pro-ONOE resolutions being passed by panchayats, other elected bodies and organisations. All resolutions are addressed to President Droupadi Murmu.
The Tribune has accessed a copy of the resolution that lists five ONOE benefits — administrative and economic efficiency, continuity in development works, political stability, greater voter participation and reduction in poll expenses. “ONOE is a revolutionary step to make Indian democracy stronger, more transparent and efficient. It will not just ensure continuity in government work but will also strengthen national unity and integrity. We support ONOE and seek strong measures to implement it. ONOE should be given statutory backing by passing the related Bills in Parliament. The EC should be given required resources to implement it and all political parties should move forward on ONOE with consensus,” it adds.
Sources said BJP’s ONOE outreach is set to enter an intensive district-level phase from April 25 with the party sharing advocacy booklets with states units today.
The booklet (The Tribune has a copy) cites 2029 as the aspirational timeline to begin the ONOE rollout, with a target to hold Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections together by 2034.
Simultaneous elections were held from 1951 to 1967 and halted thereafter due to dissolution of state Assemblies.
The booklet further recalls BJP’s commitment to ONOE made in the very first LS poll manifesto after its formation in 1984 and contains FAQs to dispel doubts on the issue.
“The estimated cost of the 2024 LS elections was around Rs 1.35 lakh crore, up from Rs 60,000 crore in 2019. ONOE could save 1.5 per cent of the GDP equal to Rs 4.5 lakh crore which is 50 per cent of the government health expenditure,” it says.
The Tribune enquiries reveal the Haryana BJP has so far facilitated over 200 ONOE-related events, Himachal more than 100 and Punjab over 75. The Punjab unit has also collected over 125 pro-ONOE resolutions.
Speaking to this correspondent, Madan Mohan Chabra, head of the BJP Haryana’s ONEO advocacy committee, said the ongoing outreach was non-political. “The idea is to make ONOE a matter of public discourse. It is a legislation of national interest and is beyond politics. We are engaging 13 segments, including women, youth, traders, industry chambers and ex-servicemen, and almost everyone is supporting the idea,” Chabra said.
In Haryana, BJP general secretary Sunil Bansal recently attended an ONOE seminar conducted by Kurukshetra University; BJP’s national secretary Surendra Nagar was present for a similar seminar in a Gurugram varsity. Chouhan is expected at an ONOE conference the IMA is hosting at Kalpana Chawla Medical College in Karnal this Tuesday.
Similar events have been held in select institutes of Himachal and Punjab, with the Punjab BJP also producing a video song to power people’s backing for simultaneous elections.
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