Sankalp Patra, the Bhartiya Janata Party’s election platform for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, was released on Sunday. The manifesto prioritizes the advancement of women, youth, farmers, and the impoverished. The party has declared that it will prioritize “One Nation, One Poll” and execute the Uniform Civil Code (UCC).
The event was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President of the Bhartiya Janata Party JP Nadda, and Union Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, and S Jaishankar.
One Nation, One Poll
One of the main points of the BJP’s 2024 election program is “One Nation, One Poll,” also known as “One Nation, One Election.” The concept of ONOP calls for simultaneous elections to be held throughout the nation, meaning that state and Lok Sabha elections will take place at the same time.
President Droupadi Murmu received the 18,626-page report on “One Nation, One Poll” from the High-Level Committee, which was chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind, last month.
According to the report, out of the 21,558 public answers that the committee received, more than 80% (17,342) are in favor of simultaneous polling in India. Just 4,216 replies were against the proposal.
PM Modi declared, “We will build the ecosystem and infrastructure required to strengthen data governance, digital governance, and good governance in the nation.” He continued, “We will proceed with the resolve of ‘One Nation, One Election.'”
Uniform civil code
The adoption of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) stood out as another important component of the manifesto of the saffron movement.
According to PM Modi, the BJP, like ONOP, views the Uniform Civil Code’s implementation as important for the nation because of its emphasis on good governance.
Simply said, UCC refers to a single rule that would govern all religious communities about issues like marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption, maintenance, and so forth. Although India lacks a unified civil law system, all of its residents are subject to the same “criminal code.”
The Indian constitution states in Article 44, “The state shall endeavor to secure for citizens a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) throughout the territory of India.” This article is part of the directive principles of state policy.
Home Minister Amit Shah stated earlier this month at CNN-News18’s Rising Bharat Summit, “The BJP (Jan Sangh) has been fighting this (UCC) since the 1950s.” We firmly think that in a secular nation like India, there has to be a single law that applies to everyone.
Shah added that Jawahar Lal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Patel, BR Ambedkar, and the BJP all regarded the UCC as their “guiding principle.” They concluded that the UCC has to be put into effect across the nation at the appropriate moment, and the BJP administration did it in Uttarakhand.
In February, Uttarakhand became the first Indian state to enforce the UCC.