NEW DELHI: Congress on Tuesday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to dissolve the Lok Sabha and hold general elections along with four states going to polls in December. “Simultaneous elections are not possible without amendment in the Constitution.

There is only one way to have the elections together and that is Modi should dissolve Lok Sabha to advance general elections. We would welcome it,” senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot said. He was responding to questions about reports that BJP was planning simultaneous polls to Lok Sabha and 11 states — by postponing December polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram to February and advancing elections in some party-ruled states like Maharashtra and Haryana. “If they advance it by dissolving the Lok Sabha, we are prepared to fight both Lok Sabha and assembly elections at a time,” Gehlot said.

AICC legal cell chief Vivek Tankha said BJP was worried about its prospects in the three party-ruled states and wants to schedule them with LS polls to try offset the anti-incumbency in assemblies.

Shaktisinh Gohil, former leader of opposition in Gujarat and AICC in-charge of Bihar, said the talk of “one nation, one election” was an attempt by Modi to trigger a new debate and distract people from the failures of his government. He said Modi has done it repeatedly in the past as Gujarat chief minister as part of strategy to hoodwink people.

