The Hindu : EC should concentrate on polls: Jaitley

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 12, 2002

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EC should concentrate on polls: Jaitley

Arun Jaitley

New Delhi Aug. 11. Taking exception to the Chief Election Commissioner, J. M. Lyngdoh's focus on relief and rehabilitation measures in Gujarat, the ruling BJP today said there were several Relief Commissioners (RCs) to do that job and that the Election Commission should concentrate on elections.

Claiming that 98 per cent of the State was normal, the BJP general-secretary in charge of the State, Arun Jaitley, said that ``in some areas relief and rehabilitation may still be required and it must be expeditiously done. The Relief Commissioners must do their job and the Election Commission its own.''

``The EC should bear in mind the Constitutional requirement of Article 174, which mandates that the next sitting of the State Assembly has to be called in early October,'' he said.

``The job of the EC is to conduct elections,'' Mr. Jaitley said, adding ``I hope they are able to announce the dates at the earliest.''

Commenting on the reported adverse remarks of the CEC, Mr. Jaitley, who visited the State a few days ago, said that most of the victims had returned home and life had become normal.

``It would be a bad precedent to suggest that elections can be deferred,'' he said, adding, ``We have gone through elections during terrorism in Punjab, we have gone through elections and are still going through the elections in Kashmir, even under the shadow of jehadi guns.''

Mr. Jaitley said, ``We have gone through elections with a miniscule voting percentage in Assam and yet elections restored normality in Punjab and Assam.''

He said elections in Kashmir would also send a message to the entire world that despite terrorist threats the people of the State were expressing faith in India's sovereignty through the ballot. ``In comparison, it would be too far-fetched to suggest that elections cannot be held in Gujarat even though the State had been normal for the past several months,'' he added.

Terming the incident at Godhra and the resultant violence in many parts of the State unfortunate, he said everyone should bear in mind that 98 per cent of the State was unaffected by the violence. Asked whether the election-related exercise like preparation of the voters list had been done, Mr. Jaitley said ``the draft electoral rolls were published in February 2002 and the final rolls in May 2002''.

``No wholesale revision is therefore required. If there are individual additions and deletions required, the same can be done pending elections as has been done in Jammu and Kashmir,'' he said. — PTI

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