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BJP lashes out at CEC

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI AUG. 12. The Election Commission and the ruling BJP could be heading for a confrontation on the issue of elections in Gujarat.

The BJP spokesperson, V.K. Malhotra, today directly charged the Chief Election Commissioner, J.M. Lyngdoh, with using "intemperate language'' during his recent visit to the State. He also suggested that the Constitutional authority (Mr. Lyngdoh) would be guilty of "undermining the Constitution'' if Assembly elections in the State were not held in time for the new Assembly to meet before October 10 (when six months would have elapsed since the last Assembly session).

The BJP's interpretation of Article 174 of the Constitution is that the EC "must'' hold elections to enable the new Assembly to meet before October 10. The party is well aware that if the elections are delayed the Government may have no option but to impose President's rule in the State.

The BJP rejected the view that the so-called six-month clause was a "grey area'' and that it applied only to the same Assembly, not in the case of a dissolved Assembly and a newly elected one.

The party claimed that work on revision of voters' lists in the State had started in February and ended in May this year. And as was done in the case of Jammu and Kashmir, the EC could well have decided that voters were free to register till the date of filing of nominations begins.

The BJP charged that Mr. Lyngdoh had created "uncertainty'' about elections in Gujarat when in fact his business was to announce the election schedule. If some riot victims were still in refugee camps, special arrangements should have been made by him to ensure that they would be able to cast their votes, Mr. Malhotra added.

Yet another charge levelled by the party was that it had adopted double standards, one for Jammu and Kashmir and another for Gujarat.

The rather aggressive tone used by Mr. Malhotra against the EC with Mr. Lyngdoh as the special target is being seen as an attempt to virtually intimidate the EC and force it to announce an early date for elections in Gujarat. Even some of the NDA allies are not too happy with this stance. "If the Government does not respect important institutions, who will'' asked Mr. Digvijay Singh, Samata Party leader, who is the Minister of State for External Affairs.

It was pointed out to Mr. Malhotra that some of BJP's "friends'' like the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu, had also opposed early elections in Gujarat and the Prime Minister had stated in Parliament that there was no move to hold early elections. "That was several months ago,'' Mr. Malhotra responded.

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