The YSR Congress Party has expressed support to the concept of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies while acknowledging that there are several challenges. Party Rajya Sabha Member V. Vijaya Sai Reddy in a long letter to the Law Commission suggested that amendments might have to be made to the Constitution to minimise the “adverse impact”.

In the nine-page letter, Mr. Reddy said his party had made a deep study and come to the decision to support the concept. However, there were several practical problems. Under Article 83(2) and Article 172, the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies existed for five years from the date of the notification, “unless dissolved earlier” and simultaneous elections would undermine it. The concept would work only if the governments lasted for full five years and the question of no-confidence motions would not arise at all, he said. Though the concept would reduce the cost of elections, there was “no guarantee” the expenditure of the political parties and candidates would come down in any way. The concept would also reduce the importance of the State elections and therefore that of the regional parties. This was not good for the federal structure.

Other challenges were the moving of the security forces and providing the huge number of EVMs required.

Suggesting that separate elections were the cause for the large-scale corruption, the YSRCP recommended that elected representatives who defect be disqualified within 30 days of petition being filed. The power of disqualification should be vested with the Election Commission and not with the Speaker of the respective House.

The power currently vested with the Speakers was being grossly abused by the respective ruling parties. The YSRCP asked the Law Commission to address the concerns of the party before going ahead, the letter said.

The Law Commission was also asked to study the defects of the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) system and set them right.