The Hindu : CEC rejects concept of simultaneous polls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 06, 2003

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CEC rejects concept of simultaneous polls

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI AUG. 5. The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), J.M. Lyngdoh, today rejected the concept of simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Though feasible, he maintained that it was not according to the Constitution, and said elections to the five States slated to go to the polls later this year would be held as per schedule in November.

Reacting to the proposal articulated by the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, this past weekend, Mr. Lyngdoh — in an exclusive interview to NDTV — said there was no merit in the argument that synchronised elections to both Parliament and the State Assemblies would cut down expenditure. "I don't think saving expenditure is a very important point. It is really the democratic aspect which is more important."

Dismissing Mr. Advani's contention that frequent elections were a handicap to the ruling party, he said: "It ought not stop the Government from taking important decisions if it wants to. In fact, it has not hindered anybody for all these decades."

While the CEC did not dispute its feasibility, he pointed out its flip side; stating that even synchronised elections would have to be staggered because of the logistics involved in conducting such a mammoth exercise.

"As you have to hold elections for the whole country, you cannot do it in one stage. It has to be done in several stages. We need (a) police force, you cannot hold elections without a police force."

According to Mr. Lyngdoh, there was no formal proposal from the Government on holding simultaneous elections. However, he did admit that the Union Law Minister, Arun Jaitley, had spoken to the Election Commissioner, T.S. Krishnamurthy, about this informally.

The CEC's observations came within days of Mr. Advani revealing that the BJP-led NDA Government was seriously thinking of synchronising the two. Also, the Vice-President, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, had made a similar suggestion on the plea that the country could ill-afford the expenditure involved in conducting frequent polls, he revealed.

On Monday, the Congress indicated that it was not opposed to the suggestion though a formal view would be taken only after the Government drew up a concrete proposal.

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