CEC pats Govt for J-K polls

It was a compliment that can be read both ways, coming as it did from none other than soon-to-retire Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdo...

It was a compliment that can be read both ways, coming as it did from none other than soon-to-retire Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh. Giving the NDA Government a pat in the back, Lyngdoh said with its help, the Election Commission was able to hold free and fair elections in Jammu and Kashmir last year.

Lyngdoh was in one of those rare moods, ready to take any number of questions as newspersons caught him at the gates of the Nirvachan Sadan.

While refusing to be drawn into a discussion on the date of the general elections, the CEC spoke on his stint in the Commission. ‘‘Our biggest challenge was to hold free and fair elections in Jammu and Kashmir. While the Centre helped us by providing security and other logistical support, it was the Election Commission that held free and fair elections,’’ he said.

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On Gujarat, where his controversial comment on the role of bureaucrats in the riots following the Godhra massacre became a subject for heated debates, Lyngdoh said: ‘‘Gujarat was difficult (like the J-K), but it was not a nice experience.’’

Asked whether the country was ready for general elections, Lyngdoh said that is for ‘‘my successor (T.S. Krishnamurthy)’’ to say and that it would be unfair to move into a territory which is duly his. On his now-famous comment that politicians are like cancer, he said: ‘‘I do not want to rake up the issue’’.

Will the EC remain as independent as it was during his stint? Lyngdoh said, praising his successor: ‘‘It is in good hands. With the kind of people we have at the Commission, it will continue to be independent.’’

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