Oppn pressing for Sept dates

NEW DELHI, APRIL 29: Pressure is building from the opposition parties to hold the general elections in September or early October after t...

NEW DELHI, APRIL 29: Pressure is building from the opposition parties to hold the general elections in September or early October after the completion of the ongoing revision of electoral rolls.

Leaders of the CPIM and CPI, the Janata Dal and the Samajwadi Janata Party today separately petitioned Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill to demand that a decision on the poll date should take into consideration climatic factors and the completion of the electoral rolls.

CPIM General Secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet and CPI leader A B Bardhan, have in a joint letter to the Election Commission said that the polls should be held in September. Their logic is that by the time the revision of electoral rolls is completed by July 21, the whole country will be in the grip of monsoon, which will hamper both the poll campaign and voter participation in the elections.

The CPIM leadership has also discounted the ruling BJP alliance8217;s demand for early elections on the grounds that major political decisions, like the signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, would be delayed.

Speaking at a press conference, CPIM politbureau member Prakash Karat said it was as if the government was more concerned about keeping Washington happy and wanted early polls to sign the CTBT.

A Janata Dal delegation which called on Gill also sought elections in September but did not favour clubbing the Lok Sabha elections with the Assembly elections which are due in some States later this year. Karnataka where the JD is in power is scheduled to go to polls in October-November.

JD chief Sharad Yadav who led the delegation said that the elections should not be held before the revision of electoral rolls is completed as it would deprive 50 lakh new voters of their right to franchise.

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Other political representatives who met the CEC were SJP leaders Satya Prakash Malaviya and O P Srivatsava. They told Gill that their preference was for polls being held between September-end and early October.

The Election Commission also heard the plea of former Union Minister, Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, now an independent MP, who wanted the polls in mid-September.