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Govt. not on collision course with EC: Advani

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI AUG. 19. While maintaining that the Government is not headed for a collision course with the Election Commission in respect of the Gujarat Assembly polls, the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, told presspersons here today that the Commission's job was to conduct polls and not to prevent them from taking place.

It was the Commission's suggestion for President's rule in Gujarat that prompted the Union Cabinet to seek clarifications from the Supreme Court through a Presidential reference. He said the Commission had come close to directing the imposition of Article 356 in Gujarat and felt that it had transgressed its authority in doing so. Interpretation of constitutional provisions by the Commission in its order last week had created a ``constitutional crisis'' and the Government was left with no option but to seek clarifications from the apex court. President's rule should also be ratified by Parliament, he said and wondered if the Commission had stepped on the jurisdiction of Parliament.

Mr. Advani said the poll panel was well within its authority to set the date for elections but it was for the Central Government to make security forces available and extend all assistance to ensure a free, fair and smooth conduct of the polls.

On the political front, several parties described the Government's move to opt for a Presidential reference as ``unwarranted'' and yet another step to undermine the constitutional authority of the EC.

The CPI(M) politburo said that after denigrating the EC, the BJP was now drawing the President into a needless controversy. There was no constitutional crisis or problem emerging from the decision, except for the BJP, which had ``cynically gambled'' on an early election in Gujarat, a State ``devastated by unprecedented communal violence''.

The CPI central secretariat said that it was a clear attempt to ``browbeat the EC''. The move was not `innocent' and the BJP was bent on questioning the EC's authority because it took an independent position based on its own findings and refused to yield to the BJP's demands.

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