Tuesday, Aug 20, 2002
Tuesday, Aug 20, 2002 |
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Karnataka
By Our Staff Correspondent
He told presspersons here that the Election Commission had decided against holding polls after a thorough study of the situation. It had sent a nine-man committee to assess the scenario following which all the three members of the Commission visited the State, studied the law and order situation, met riot victims at relief camps, and arrived at the conclusion. Hence, it was unbecoming of the Union Government to have questioned the Commission's decision. The decision should not be a subject of debate by political parties as the Election Commission was a Constitutionally-created body and was fully autonomous and empowered to hold its views. That even the former Union Law Minister, Arun Jaitley, opposed the Commission's views was deplorable, Mr. Gowda said. About Article 174 of the Constitution, which states that there should not be a gap of more than six months between two sittings of the Legislative Assembly, he said there was precedence of not holding elections within six months after dissolution of the elected body and cited the examples of Manipur and West Bengal which were affected by naxalite violence. "The BJP wants to cash in on the situation arising out of communal violence and is desperate to hold elections. The Union Government's decision to seek Presidential reference is a desperate attempt at survival." The former Prime Minister said what was important was holding "free and fair elections" which was not possible under the existing circumstances. More than 1.5 lakh people were living in refugee camps while many more people had fled the State. This would necessitate a house-to-house enumeration to revise the voters' list. Hence, free and fair elections could not be held now. Mr. Gowda said that he was in Rajkot three days ago and learnt about a communal clash in a near-by town in which seven persons were killed and nine were seriously injured the same day. The situation was similar when the Legislative Assembly was dissolved and by no stretch of imagination could one say that the atmosphere was conducive to holding elections. The Election Commission had an obligation only towards the Constitution and polls were held not at the instance of the ruling party or the Opposition. "Even some of the Cabinet Ministers were against an early election in Gujarat." On the question of invoking Article 356 and imposing President's rule in Gujarat, Mr. Gowda said it was demanded on the floor of the House but was rejected on the grounds that there was no breakdown of law and order. The same Government tried to impose President's rule in Bihar. He regretted that Constitutionally-created institutions were assailed by the Union Government and said the confrontation with the Election Commission came in the wake of a similar attitude adopted towards the office of the Comptroller and Auditor-General recently.
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