In the bustling city of Chennai, the Tamil Nadu assembly, on a Wednesday, embraced a resolution vehemently urging the Union government to refrain from implementing the ‘one nation, one election’ policy. The eloquent Chief Minister, M K Stalin, gracefully set the resolution into motion. Another resolution passionately implored the Centre to abstain from undertaking the delimitation of constituencies based on the census post-2026. The resolution garnered staunch support from DMK allies, including Congress, VCK, MDMK, and the Left parties.

Critiquing the ‘One Nation, One Election’ initiative, the resolution contended that it was “antithetical to democracy, impractical, and lacked constitutional grounding in India.” The document further expounded, asserting that conducting elections for local bodies, state Assemblies, and Parliament at disparate times was a reflection of addressing the intricacies of a vast and diverse country like India. The essence of democratic decentralization, the resolution argued, clashed with the uniformity advocated by the proposed policy.

Curiously absent during the resolution were PMK MLAs, casting a shadow over their stance. N Thalavai Sundaram, the AIADMK MLA, expressed conditional support for the ‘one nation, one election’ policy. He articulated that the AIADMK would back the policy’s implementation, but only after the realization of their ten demands, submitted to the former President Ram Nath Kovind-led high-level committee. Sundaram elaborated on the party’s perspective, anticipating a reduction in election-related expenditures due to periodic interruptions in the election code of conduct.

With nuanced precision, he conveyed, “We are not advocating immediate implementation; a phased approach over ten years, with EVMs ready in five, is pragmatic. However, it is imperative that the seats in state assemblies and Parliament remain unaffected post-delimitation.”

The chief minister’s second resolution eloquently declared, “This august house ardently implores that states like Tamil Nadu should not face punitive measures for diligently implementing various socio-economic development programs and welfare schemes over the past half-century.” In the event of an unavoidable increase in seats based on population, the resolution suggested maintaining the current ratio of constituencies between states in the state assemblies and both houses of parliament, established on the population of 1971.

The AIADMK lent its support to this resolution, underscoring the population control initiatives in southern states vis-à-vis the lack thereof in northern states. BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan acknowledged the party’s alignment with the concerns raised in the resolution regarding the delimitation exercise. She dismissed the assertions of opposing parties on the ‘one nation, one election’ as baseless, emphasizing the need for the state government to consider the late chief minister and DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi’s endorsement of the concept, documented in his biography, Nenjukku Neethi. Srinivasan concluded decisively, stating, “The resolution on ‘one nation, one election’ is superfluous,” vehemently opposing the government’s stance.