The Hindu : EC decision: BJP may approach court

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 18, 2002

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National

EC decision: BJP may approach court

By Manas Dasgupta

GANDHINAGAR Aug.17. Shocked by the Election Commission's refusal to toe its line, the ruling BJP in Gujarat is understood to be considering the option of approaching the court to seek a direction to the Commission for early elections to the Assembly.

The party's State general secretary, Nalin Bhatt, when asked about the Election Commission's decision, said the decision was ``unfortunate'' and it would have been good if it accepted the democratic rights of the people to elect their own Government at the earliest. But he said the party was studying all the aspects before taking a final decision. He hinted that approaching the court of law was one of the options.

A senior leader of the party and legal expert said he would advice the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, to approach the Supreme Court at least to get certain ``objectionable remarks'' of the Commission against the State Government expunged. The Commission, he said, was going beyond its jurisdiction by claiming that the people had lost confidence in the Modi Government.Other legal experts, however, do not believe that approaching the court could help the ruling party's cause. A prominent advocate and leader of the Citizen's Initiative, Girish Patel, felt that the only course left to the BJP would be to approach the court under Article 174 under which the two sessions of the Assembly should not be delayed beyond six months, but the move was fraught with the danger of boomeranging on the ruling party itself.

Application of Article 174 could run against the spirit of Article 324 which gives absolute powers to the Commission to decide on the timing of holding an election after considering all the aspects. If Article 174 is applied, it creates a compulsion on the Election Commission to hold elections within six months of the dissolution of the Assembly under any circumstances even if the situation is not conducive for holding the elections.

Mr. Patel pointed out that if the court refused to override Article 324, it would automatically attract Article 356 for the imposition of the President's rule in the State, because by applying Article 174 the ruling party admits that the present Government could not run according to the Constitution. He also pointed out that since the dissolution of the Assembly last month itself was an abuse of Article 174 as there was no threat to the stability of the Narendra Modi Ministry when it recommended dissolution, the provision of holding Assembly sessions within a span of six months could not be applied after the House was dissolved.

The last session of the dissolved House had ended on April 4. Going by this, the entire election process needed to be completed, the new Ministry formed and the first session of the new Assembly convened by October 4. Since there was not sufficient time left for the court to decide on the matter so expeditiously, the Centre might be left with no choice but to impose President's rule if the ruling party insisted on Article 174, Mr. Patel felt.

Even while hoisting the national flag on the Independence Day, the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, advocated early elections claiming that it was the best solution to the ``situation of uncertainty and confusion'' created by the Opposition parties and others trying to take advantage of the communal strife to defame the people of the State.

The Pradesh Congress legal cell at its meeting, however, adopted a resolution demanding the imposition of President's rule in the State, claiming that the Modi administration, since the dissolution of the Assembly was not functioning ``as per the Constitution.''

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