New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi again said “One Nation One Election” idea on Thursday. He said it is not a matter of debate but what the country needs. He also suggested that the Election Commission prepare a single voters’ list for Lok Sabha, assembly and Panchayat polls, saying separate lists are a “waste of resources”.

Modi said in a virtual address at the 80th All-India Presiding Officers Conference “One nation, one election isn’t just a matter of debate; this is the need for India. Elections are held at different places every few months.

The effect it has on development work is known to all. This issue needs to be studied and presiding officers can be guiding force for it”. “We must remember that when politics takes over people and nation-first policies, the nation has to pay adversely in such situations,” Modi said. The Prime Minister Modi’s fresh pitch for simultaneous elections comes weeks after the assembly polls in Bihar, which was the last one this year. Elections in Bengal and Tamil Nadu — crucial for the BJP — are due next year.