“In a federal democracy you cannot think of simultaneous elections. This is a futile exercise. First and foremost poll reform should be to put a ceiling on expenditure but no one's talking about it,” senior JD (S) leader Danish Ali told The Hindu and added that the proposal was aimed against smaller regional players.

On the other hand, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) supported the move though the latter qualified it’s stand by saying that move should be implemented from the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. BJP ally, Janata Dal (United), too expressed support for simultaneous polls and mentioned that the proposal was part of the political resolution adopted at the party’s national executive meet on Sunday.

Always in poll mode

TRS chief and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s letter to the Commission said: “We know that four to six months of time is spent in conducting elections each time to the Lok Sabha and the State Legislatures. The entire State and District level administrative and security machinery is very busy with the conduct of elections twice in a period five years as per the current practice. Likewise, imposition of model code of conduct for such a long time is hampering developmental and welfare activities undertaken by the State government.”

During deliberations on Saturday, the Trinamool Congress and CPI strongly argued against the move while NDA member Shiromani Akali Dal and the AIADMK backed the move. The AIADMK, however, qualified its support saying that the move should be implemented from the 2024 LS polls.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) supported the move though the latter qualified it’s stand by saying that move should be implemented from the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.