“I regret that I cannot agree...”: Mamata Banerjee writes to the Kovind-led “One Nation, One Election” committee

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo, Mamata Banerjee on Thursday wrote a strongly worded letter to the “one nation, one election” committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, expressing her disagreement with the design of conducting simultaneous polls, calling it "a design to subvert the basic structure of the Constitution."

In the letter addressed to Dr. Niten Chandra, the Secretary of the committee, Banerjee said, “I regret that I cannot agree with the concept of 'One Nation, One Election', as framed by you. We disagree with your formulation and proposal."

Banerjee stated that in 1952, the first general elections were simultaneously conducted. "There was such simultaneity for some years. But the coevality has since been ruptured...," she said.

"You seem to be conveying some sort of a unilateral top-down 'decision' already taken by the central government - to impose a structure that is against the spirit of a truly democratic and federal nation,” said Mamata Banerjee hitting out at the ruling BJP government.

Mamata Banerjee has stated that she has "basic conceptual difficulties” in agreeing with the committee, and questioned the notion of “one nation.” "While I understand the meaning of one nation in a historical-political-cultural sense, I do not understand the exact constitutional and structural implication of the term in the instant case. Does the Indian Constitution follow the concept of 'One Nation, One Government'? I am afraid, it does not,” said the West Bengal CM.

The West Bengal Chief Minister said that states that are not expecting assembly elections should not be forced into going for "premature general elections for the sake of introduction of coevality only: that will be a basic violation of the electoral trust of the people who have elected their Vidhan Sabha representatives for full five years,” asserted Banerjee.

"The central or a state government may not complete their term for various reasons, for example a coalition breaking to a vote of no-confidence," said Mamata Banerjee stating that in the past, the Lok Sabha has had to be dissolved several times. The TMC Supremo then went on to say that conducting fresh elections is the only option in such a situation. "Non-simultaneous federal and state elections are a basic feature in the Westminster system which should not be altered. To paraphrase, non-simultaneity is part of the basic structure of the Indian Constitutional arrangements,” she added.

“From the tenor of your correspondence and manner in which you accept half-baked assumptions as facts, we doubt if the committee is seriously interested in analysing the demerits of the case...Under the circumstances, I cannot agree with the 'one nation, one election' concept, as framed by you. We disagree with your formulation and proposal," wrote CM Mamata Banerjee.

The committee, led by former president Ram Nath Kovind, has reached out to political parties, seeking their opinions on the matter of simultaneous polls. Formed in September of the previous year, the committee has conducted two meetings, gathering public input on the subject.​