Gujarat civic polls put off by 3 months

Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel told reporters, as he emerged from the meeting, that the Cabinet had decided to postpone the elections as the entire Government machinery was engaged in tackling the century’s worst drought. Elections would not be held even in the regions not affected by water scarcity because Government staff had also been drawn from there for drought relief.

With this, the elections to six municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar as well as 25 district panchayats, 225 taluka panchayats and 8,000 gram panchayats have been put on hold for three months. While the term of the six corporations expires on June 30, that of the taluka and district panchayats get over on July 13 and 14.

It may be recalled here that the state unit of the BJP had recommended to the Government over a month ago to postpone the civic elections in view of the drought. Though officially the party had claimed it would be unfair to seek votes when the state was reeling under acute water scarcity, sources stated the party think-tank had even found it politically prudent not to go to the polls at this juncture.

Party leaders perceive the Congress to be too weak an Opposition to cash in on the flak drawn by the Government by its allegedly inept handling of the drought situation, but they are still apprehensive of poll reverses should the anti-incumbency factor come into play. They are not even willing to take any chances in the drought-free areas like Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat as well as parts of Central and South Gujarat.

In fact, there were two opinions in the ruling BJP about holding the elections. One section of the party insisted that the polls be held on schedule so that the elections are held under the party’s, and not the administrator’s rule. At present, all the six corporations and most of the panchayats are ruled by the BJP. The other section of the party advocated that the elections should be put off because diverting government machinery from drought to elections could further hamper relief measures and draw more criticism for the government. By holding the elections, they did not wish the Congress to extract any political mileage.