Congress and Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday strongly opposed the idea of "one nation one election" and said it will «damage the idea of parliamentary democracy».
The INDIA bloc party said holding simultaneous elections will give an «unfair advantage» to the party ruling at the union level.
«Aam Aadmi Party strongly opposes the idea of 'one nation, one election'. This will damage the idea of parliamentary democracy, the basic structure of the Constitution, and the federal polity of the country.
'One nation, one election' is unable to deal with hung legislatures and will actively encourage the evil of anti-defection and open buying and selling of MLAs and MPs,» AAP national secretary Pankaj Gupta wrote in a letter to the high-level panel formed under Ram Nath Kovind to examine the issue.
The letter to panel secretary Niten Chandra added, «The tenets of the constitution and democracy cannot be sacrificed for narrow financial gains and administrative convenience...Conducting polls simultaneously will detrimentally impact the Indian multi-party system, where several parties have emerged to represent the voices of those who were erstwhile marginalised in mainstream politics.»