Adityanath favours holding simultaneous polls

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said he is in favour of the country holding simultaneous elections, i.e. general as well as assembly elections, to ensure development and other welfare projects don't lag behind.

"State polls, general elections and by-polls held at different times hamper development due to the Model Code of Conduct and deployment of election staff and security personnel. The Prime Minister has started a campaign for all elections to be held at the same time so that we don't spend on elections every five years," Adityanath told ANI.

"We have constituted a team in UP under Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh in this regard and asked them to see if it is possible to hold only one election. Only one voters' list should be there and we want to link this voters' list to the Aadhaar Card so that new voters are automatically added after they turn 18 and deceased voters names can be automatically deleted. We are going to send a recommendation to the Centre in this regard," he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah and other political parties have hinted at creating a better electoral system in the country.

They have cited convenience and a curbing of expenditure as primary reasons to support this move.

BJP National General Secretary Bhupender Yadav has written to chief ministers of BJP-ruled states on the issue of 'one nation-one election'. Yadav has asked chief ministers to take opposition leaders into confidence on the issue to arrive at a consensus.

Former home secretary Madhav Godbole has supported the idea and demanded a constitutional amendment after a detailed discussion in Parliament.

The government has sought the opinion of the Election Commission of India in this regard, a report said. The NITI Aayog has also presented their recommendations.