The Hindu : BJP guarded in criticism against EC decision

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 17, 2002

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National

BJP guarded in criticism against EC decision

By Our New Delhi Bureau

NEW DELHI AUG. 16. Even as the Opposition today welcomed the Election Commission decision to defer the Gujarat Assembly polls to November/December, the BJP was guarded in its response while maintaining that victory was certain for the party at the hustling whenever elections are held in the State.

In an apparent climbdown from the strident stance the party had struck following the Chief Election Commissioner's visit to Gujarat last week, the BJP spokesman, V. K. Malhotra, reiterated that "we wanted the elections to be held early to allow the new Assembly to meet before October 10 to fulfil the requirements of Article 174''.

As to whether the BJP would move the courts against the Election Commission decision in view of the party's interpretation of Article 174 that there should not be a gap of more than six months between two sittings of the Assembly, Mr. Malhotra said the party would decide after studying the order in detail.

While Arun Jaitley chipped for good measure that "the Congress need not rejoice as there has been only a postponement of the date of its defeat'', the BJP general secretary had a quarrel with the Election Commission's statement vis-a-vis electoral rolls. "The draft rolls were published in February, and the final rolls in May. In any case, it is the Election Commission's job to have them ready in time for elections. That electoral rolls are not ready is not a valid reason to defer polls.''

For its part, the Congress took the view that all parties must respect the views of a Constitutional organ even if it did not suit "their narrow political objectives''. Further, according to the spokesman, Abhishek Singhvi, "when India wants to show the world that it shall hold free and fair elections in Jammu & Kashmir with the same Election Commission, it is self-defeating to cast aspersions on the same body''. In the opinion of Mohan Prakash, who recently left the NDA constituent, JD(U), to join the Congress, the BJP's continued articulation of its interpretation of Article 174 was evidence of the party's "mental bankruptcy''.

Welcoming the Election Commission decision, the CPI(M) Parliamentary Party leader, Somnath Chatterjee, sought to underline the fact that the BJP's legal luminaries were not unaware of the proper interpretation of Article 174. The BJP, he said, was using its interpretation of Article 174 to pressure the Election Commission to call for early elections in Gujarat to capitalise on communal violence.

As for the Samata Party, its spokesman, Shambhu Srivastava, maintained that "whatever the Election Commission decides is acceptable to us''.

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