Meghalaya CM endorses 'one nation, one election'

Meghalaya Chief Minister and National People's Party (NPP) national President, Conrad K Sangma on Wednesday endorsed 'one nation, one election' agenda pitched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The idea of 'one nation, one election' is good for the nation as it saves expenditure and improves the overall efficiency of the elections," Sangma said in recorded message after attending an all-party meeting chaired by the Prime Minister on the issue.

"... there will be challenges to it and therefore, consultation must be done with all the stakeholders to ensure that the ideas are taken in and based on that, proper decisions can be made," he said.

The Prime Minister said that a committee will be formed to look into the various issues regarding the "one nation, one election" plan.

Members of all the opposition parties present at the meeting supported the idea barring the CPI and CPI-M, while eight parties including the Congress, the BSP and the SP skipped the meet.

Sangma said the all-party meeting also discussed the 75th year celebration of India's Independence and 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi besides the agenda pertaining to the aspirational districts and how to improve them.

He also said that during the meeting, he dwelt on improving the productivity of the Parliament, and also appealed to parliamentar to learn from Meghalaya in as far as improving the productivity of the proceedings is concerned.

( With inputs from IANS )