The Hindu : Western diplomats to 'watch' Gujarat polls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 08, 2002

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Western diplomats to 'watch' Gujarat polls

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI Dec. 7. Diplomats from leading Western missions, including the United States and Britain, will have their representatives on the ground "watching" the December 12 elections to the Gujarat Assembly. According to sources, the diplomats will not be "observing'' the elections, but simply "watching'' them as they run their course, given the severity of communal killings in the State earlier this year.

The sources said that both Delhi-based diplomats and those from consulates in Mumbai were likely to witness the polls, which have generated considerable international interest. In Britain, for instance, there are thousands of people of Gujarati origin and, consequently, the British High Commission can be expected to watch the polls closely.

While announcing the election dates, the Chief Election Commissioner, J. M. Lyngdoh, had said that the Commission would extend facilities to diplomats of the kind extended during the recent polls in Jammu and Kashmir.

Key members of the international community have gone on record appreciating the independent role played by the Election Commission in Jammu and Kashmir. Since everyone expects the Commission to play the role of a neutral umpire in Gujarat as well, the focus will be more on the issues that dominate the polls and the implications of their outcome. Here, it needs to be stressed that diplomatic assessments are basically in the form of sending reports back to the capitals.

Diplomats usually avoid the practice of making public comment. The sources said that the Gujarat Assembly polls had generated more interest in diplomatic circles than the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections held earlier this year.

A sure sign, they added, of the importance of the December 12 polls.

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