Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance at a seminar on “One Nation One Election” at SRM University near Chennai. | Photo Credit: Bijoy Ghosh
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman struck for the One Nation One Election (ONOE) model and highlighted on Saturday what is good for future generations.
The ONOE said at the ONOE seminar at the SRM Institute of Science and Technology on Saturday it would lead to a 1.5% increase in GDP or a rise of nearly Rs 4.5 crore.
The ONOE will help save around 12,000 crores to the country’s State Department. The savings from keeping ONOE can be used for a variety of development tasks, she added.
The amount spent on the 2024 Lok Sabha election was Rs 1 trillion (interim) with nearly 100,000 security guards and about 250,000 administrative staff deployed at 12 lakh polling stations, she said.
Frequent elections have informed the model code of conduct and for almost three months all welfare measures have been confused, she said. The concept of Lok Sabha and parliamentary elections and simultaneous elections were not new. It took place in the 1960s and 1970s, she added.
“Simultaneous elections for both Lok Sabah and Congress will only occur after 2029, when the process begins by the President, and only then will the Election Commission gain power,” she said. Only in 2034 would Lok Sabha and the state legislature’s election cycle be synchronized, she added, easing the fear that a simultaneous poll would occur in the next election.
The only simultaneous polls are Lok Sabha and Assembly. The city’s elections have been excluded, she added.
“We are now laying the foundations to support the next generation,” Sitharaman said. “I urge everyone to support ONOE for the growth of the country,” she added.
Released on April 5, 2025
