By Akhileshwari Anand Raj
The Election Commission was supposed to announce election dates for Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat on Thursday. However, dates were announced only for Himachal Pradesh: November 9th. Polls in Gujarat would be held prior to December 18th, the day the Himachal Pradesh poll results are to be announced, said the EC.
This announcement deviates from the general practice of announcing poll dates for states together when the elections are due around the same time. The current legislative assembly terms of the two states end two weeks apart from each other.
Opposition reacts
The Congress accused the BJP of pressurising the Election Commission into delaying the announcement of poll dates so that it could coincide with Prime Minister Modis mega rally in the state capital Gandhinagar next week.
Congress Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged that this delay was to ensure that the model code of conduct, which does not allow the announcement of sops, would not be enforced before the PMs rally. He also stated that an independent Constitutional body like the Election Commission should not come under the influence of the government like this.
Former Chief Election Commission S.Y. Qureshi also stated that this delay was suspicious and went against the spirit of simultaneous polls. He questioned the motive behind the EC’s announcement for Himachal Pradesh and not for Gujarat, and termed this act as unfortunate.
Election Commission clarifies
The Chief Election Commissioner A.K. Joti stated that the reason behind this announcement was that the people of Himachal Pradesh sought for polling before the harsh winter sets in, and the Gujarat government asked for more time to complete relief and rehabilitation work after the floods in the state before the code of conduct was enforced.
He said that it was unnecessary to have the model code of conduct enforced for very long, as the Law Ministry and the Election Commission reached an understanding in 2000 that there would not be a gap of more than 21 days between the announcement of polls and the date of the notification of elections.
Therefore, the total time period for which the code would be in place is 46 days. Citing previous instances, he said that when the elections for these two states had been announced together, the model code had remained enforced for 86 days.
BJP retorts
BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi called the Congress comments on the Gujarat polls unfortunate. He said that it was saddening since such an allegation was coming from a party which has ruled the country for several years. He also said that Congress was using the decision of a constitutional body to further its political vendetta.
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