PM Narendra Modi's idea: Hold all elections simultaneously, save time and money

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has mooted the idea of holding all elections in the country together.

As per a report in The Indian Express, the PM proposed the idea as he believes political parties and its workers have been wasting too much time and money in electioneering.

As per the PM's proposal, elections at all levels - panchayats, urban local bodies, state Assemblies and Parliament - should be held simultaneously.

Modi believes the idea, if implemented, would free up a lot of time and resources for political and social workers to bring change at the grassroots level.

As per the report, the PM spoke about his idea at the recent BJP national executive meeting when he was addressing party office-bearers.

He informed party workers that he had first floated the idea at an all-party meeting held ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament.

The report quoted a BJP leader as saying that the PM wants party workers to devote more time to take people-friendly programmes of the governments to the grassroots. 

“Modi said when he suggested it at the all-party meeting, almost all political leaders agreed with him. The BJP is in favour of this idea,” the BJP leader added.

BJP leaders believe, as per the report, that elections every then and now see the imposition of the model code of conduct which brings to a halt all development programmes and activities of governments in poll-bound areas.

This affects governance and leads to policy paralysis and governance deficit, they added.

The BJP had in its manifesto for the 2014 General Elections underlined evolving a method for holding Assembly and Lok Sabha polls simultaneously.