The Hindu : Cong. not against synchronisation of polls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 05, 2003

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Cong. not against synchronisation of polls

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI AUG. 4. The Congress said here today that in principle it was not opposed to the suggestion for synchronising polls to the Lok Sabha and State assemblies, but would take a considered view provided there was a concrete proposal from the Government.

Stating that the party had not received any proposal so far, the Congress said there were several aspects — constitutional and legal — connected with it that needed to be studied before formulating a stand.

"The Government has to come forward with a proposal, but till now we have not received any,'' the party spokesperson, Satyavrat Chaturvedi, told presspersons at a regular briefing. Criticising the Government for its approach, he said that it should have first talked to various political parties. On the contrary, he said, the Government had not even discussed it with the National Democratic Alliance constituents.

Mr. Chaturvedi said the fact that the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani raised the issue indicated that the BJP was feeling "insecure.'' ``It is afraid of, after the defeat in the five State Assembly elections, the outcome in the Lok Sabha polls.''

Meanwhile, party sources said there was an objection to the issue of having a fixed term for the Houses which was not possible under the Constitution. There is a view that the BJP could advance the Lok Sabha polls next year (due in October 2004) and to the five States — Orissa, Jharkhand, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, combine them with five Assembly polls scheduled to be held later this year. The move to delay polls to the five States should be attended to.

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