AIADMK says its ok for simultaneous polls after 2021

The ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu was in principle agreeable to the proposal to hold simultaneous polls to Parliament and state assemblies, but wants it to be considered after 2021 when the present state assembly's term would expire, a senior leader today said.

This view had been conveyed through a letter to the Law Commission and it will be put forth again by AIADMK leaders during the panel's two-day deliberations on the matter being held in Delhi from today, senior leader and Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar told reporters here.

He was replying to a question on the consultations by the Centre on holding simultaneous polls and the Tamil Nadu government's stand.

He said "the tenure of the (present) Tamil Nadu Assembly is till 2021" and hence assembly election should not be combined with the Lok Sabha poll scheduled for next year.

Simultaneous polls in Tamil Nadu may be considered in 2024, he added.

Though the proposal to hold simultaneous polls to Parliament and state assemblies was agreeable in principle for the AIADMK which meant "toeing the line of Amma (late chief minister Jayalalithaa)," it can, however, be considered post-2021 Assembly polls, Jayakumar said.

Jayalalithaa had in 2015 conveyed to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Law and Justice that her party favoured the idea of simultaneous polls in principle.

The late leader, had, however, flagged "some key issues" that had to be addressed before the new mechanism could be put in place.

The Law Commission is holding consultations at Delhi with all the national and state parties on the feasibility of holding simultaneous polls.

It had written to the seven recognised national and 59 state parties seeking their participation in the meeting.