Shimla, April 8 (Inditop.com) The Himachal Pradesh assembly Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution seeking conduct of all elections in the country simultaneously for saving time and money.
Moving the resolution in the assembly, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Suresh Bhardwaj said all the elections from panchayats to parliament in the country should be held simultaneously.
The resolution, which also sought a fixed five-year tenure for an elected body, was favoured by all the 68 legislators present in the house.
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said: “This practice will not only save public money but also reduce the workload on government employees.”
He said the expenditure on elections was on the rise in the past few decades.
“As against Rs.3.61 crore spent on state assembly elections in 2003, the poll expenditure rose to Rs 8.31 crore in 2007 assembly elections. In the 2009 general elections, the expenditure of the state was Rs.13.49 crore, whereas it was Rs.7.05 crore in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections,” Dhumal said.
“As elections are not held simultaneously, due to imposition of the model code of conduct development projects come to a standstill,” the chief minister added.
