Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said with an affirmation that there will no changes in 2019 general elections dates and that it will be held as per the schedule.
In a statement to The Hindu on Saturday, Rajnath said, “The 2019 Lok Sabha election will be held on time. There is no question of advancing the poll dates. The entire process will be over before May 15, 2019.”
Until now, there had been many speculations over advancement of Lok Sabha elections by few months as Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram Assembly election may coincide. Speaking on this possibility of coincidence of simultaneous elections, Singh said this decision rested completely with Election Commission.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said earlier that the possibility of simultaneous elections should be explored. The Election Commission has to explore the feasibility,” he said.
Recently, on the Independence eve, Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat had made a statement while speaking with The Hindu, saying that “Simultaneous polls can be done. In fact, that is what happened for the first few elections after Independence. But all political parties have to agree to it.”
Earlier this week on August 30, the Law Commission of India recommended simultaneous elections to save public money and said this would help the government focus on “developmental activities rather than electioneering.”
