Virbhadra upset with poll dates, sends ministers to meet EC

Party sources say Singh is upset over the poll schedule. With the model code of conduct in place, he would be unable to roll out pre-election sops for Government servants and the voters at large, including those in the tribal belt. The Chief Minister also had plans to announce new jobs and launch series of development projects in mid and lower Himachal areas.

The term of the Assembly ends in the first week of March 2008. Singh wants his ministers to convey his displeasure to the Election Commission for advancing the dates. Senior minister Kuldeep Kumar, who is already camping in Delhi, was asked to seek an appointment with the CEC. He was also advised to stay put in the national capital till the arrival of others from Shimla.

Moreover, for the first time in the history of the state, elections to three tribal seats will be held before the rest of the state goes to the polls. The EC has decided to conduct polls in Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti and Bharmour on November 14, a day before all higher passes leading to Lahaul-Spiti are officially closed for winter.

Jagat Singh Negi, Raghubir Singh and Thakur Singh Bharmouri, sitting Congress MLAs from the tribal belt, had in fact filed a petition in the High Court seeking directions to the EC for holding simultaneous polls. The MLAs had said elections to the tribal areas were usually held three to five months after other constituencies. That, they said, deprived voters in the tribal belt of their constitutional right to participate in the formation of the Government as a new one is usually sworn in before the people in the three seats vote. This also shortens the term of elected representatives, the MLAs had said.

The HC had sought replies from the state Government and the EC. The Government, in its reply, had left the final decision to the EC, but favoured simultaneous polls. An all-party meeting held subsequently by the EC had called for simultaneous polls.