SP dares BJP to hold UP assembly and LS polls together in 2019

Buoyed by opposition victory in key Lok Sabha bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav today dared the BJP government at the Centre to hold simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls in the state in 2019.

"We have no problem if the voters' list is linked with Aadhar number. We have no problems with 'one nation one election'. I ask them (BJP) to implement 'one nation one election' from 2019 itself and hold UP Assembly polls with the 2019 Lok Sabha elections," he told a press conference at the SP headquarters here.

The 44-year-old SP chief virtually threw down the gauntlet at the BJP after the saffron party's defeat in the prestigious Lok Sabha by-elections to Gorakhpur and Phulpur and its recent drubbing in Kairana and Phoolpur Assembly bypoll.

While Gorakhpur is the home turf of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Phulpur was held by his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya. Even Kairana was held by a BJP MP, whose death necessitated the bypoll in which his daughter lost to the RLD, whose candidate was supported by all opposition parties.

An Uttar Pradesh panel has recommended simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, echoing a suggestion by the Law Commission of India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's own view on the issue.

Akhilesh, however, rued, "No suggestion was taken from us on this issue".

A report in this regard was submitted yesterday by UP Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh, who headed the seven-member committee constituted by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

"UP is the first state to push PM's idea of national debate on holding all elections up to the panchayat together. We have examined it and it is possible," Singh had said after handing over the report titled, "One nation, one election & common electoral rolls."