NEW DELHI: Ex Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud has submitted his views on ‘One Nation, One Election’ to a Parliamentary panel, in which he rejected arguments that the Bill to amend the Constitution for enabling simultaneous polls violates basic structure doctrine.
It was learnt that he was, however, opposed to undefined and wide powers given to the Election Commission, including powers to delink the election in a state, in the Bills tabled in the Lok Sabha.
Justice Chandrachud has reportedly submitted a detailed note in April, 2025, former Chief Justice J S Kehar and former Ministers M Veerappa Moily and EM Sudarsana Natchiappan have been called by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on ‘ONOE’ Bills for interactions on July 11.
He also gave a detailed note that free and fair elections are a basic feature of the Constitution, but it does not say that free and fair elections can only be achieved if the elections are held non-simultaneously.
“The arguments opposing simultaneous elections are based on the premise that the electorate is ‘naive’ and can be ‘manipulated’. Universal adult franchise has been and continues to be an abiding Constitutional commitment. An unverified hypothesis of the kind referred to above cannot displace this Constitutional premise,” he said.
He was also learnt to have given suggestions that people voted differently in national and state elections. Justice Chandrachud said people might vote for national election on local issues because they wish for their local and state interests to be represented at the national level.
