NEW DELHI: In his interview to Times Now Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he favored the idea of holding general and assembly elections together. Modi said that it will save costs of holding elections and also help political parties focus on governance.
Talking to Arnab Goswami, whose credentials have become suspect in the eyes of public after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called him a chamcha (sycophant) of Modi, Prime Minister said that due to this continuous cycle of elections in one state after another, political parties tend to focus more on fund raising and political gimmicks. This causes the problem of black money and the agenda of good governance suffers.
In the interview, Modi claimed that leaders from non-BJP parties too support the idea of holding general and assembly elections together so that they can work for the people without being distracted by continuous elections.
While this may appear a noble thought, experts believe that this idea has been floated by Modi to deny full five year term to the Delhi state government of AAP led by Arvind Kejriwal.
“Kejriwal became a CM in 2015 and he has the mandate to rule Delhi till 2020. But by suggesting simultaneous general and state elections, Modi is cunningly trying to force Kejriwal into fighting another elections for Delhi in 2019 itself,” Abhay Chaubey, a neutral political commentator told Junta Ka Reporter.
Abhay Chaubey further said that since elections in Punjab are near and AAP is expected to sweep that elections too, Modi had come up with this idea of simultaneous elections so that AAP governments are denied full terms.
“First they forced Kejriwal to resign after winning 2013 elections, and now they are trying these tricks to cut short his stint as Chief Minister,” Abhay Chaubey argued.
Many other neutral commentators and political analysts have also claimed that Modi’s idea was targeted at Arvind Kejriwal, because the AAP supremo has emerged as his main challenger.
“The idea is to harass Kejriwal and not let him work,” Om Jhanvi, a neutral journalist and political analyst said.
When Junta Ka Reporter asked AAP leaders about what they think, they agreed with the experts.
“It is true that Modi is scared of Kejriwal and he is indulging in such tricks to stop him for working,” AAP leader Ashutosh said.
“It is ridiculous to say that continuous elections don’t allow political parties to work,” Ashutosh further said, “Look at Aam Aadmi Party. We have been fighting elections after elections and yet we are working for the development of the people. It’s not frequent elections, but Modi’s conspiracies that are hampering our work.”
Ashutosh said that AAP will launch countrywide agitation if the Election Commission agreed with the Prime Minister’s suggestions. He feared that the Election Commission could be working to destabilize the AAP government in Delhi.
“They are trying to disqualify our 21 MLAs, and now this is another attempt to hold early elections. Modi is controlling media, police, and all other institutions. This is nothing but undeclared emergency!” he said.
