Karnataka - Hassan   

Amend Constitution to restrict polls to once in five years: Jois

HASSAN: The former Bihar Governor Rama Jois has said that a Constitutional amendment should be made wherein elections to the Parliament and Legislative Assemblies are compulsorily restricted to once in five years, so that large amounts of money are not wasted in conducting them frequently.

Addressing presspersons at the government guesthouse here on Sunday, Mr. Jois said in case a State Government were to fall during its term in office, President’s Rule should continue till the general elections were held after five years. He said elections should be held between February and April, as it was climatically convenient for the people.

The amendment, if made, will save the Government between Rs. 7,000 crore and Rs. 8,000 crore, he added.

According to Constitutional provisions, it was mandatory to hold the elections to the Karnataka Assembly within six months of imposition of President’s Rule, he said, but expressed regret that political decisions had taken precedence over Constitutional directives.

Efforts were being made to manipulate the Constitution, he said, and added that the United Progressive Alliance-led Government at the Centre was trying to postpone the elections by considering the Kuldip Singh Committee report on delimitation of constituencies, as it was not confident of a victory.

Mr. Rama Jois said the Election Commission was an independent body and that it was planning to hold the polls in May. “I feel the Congress party is not interested in conducting polls in the State in May. It may create legal hurdles by accepting the Kuldip Singh Committee report, by placing it in Parliament in February or March, and reduce the Election Commission to a hapless observer, as it will have to prepare a fresh voters’ list as per the new Assembly constituencies,” he said.

He feared that the elections to the Assembly would not be held in October, as it would rain heavily in Malnad, Dharwad and Belgaum districts then.

Mr. Rama Jois felt that as per the Constitution, there should be total prohibition in the country. Cow slaughter should be abolished and there should be a uniform civil code, he added.

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