Spark that lit the fire in EC: 2008 Karnataka poll dates

There was a two-way division in the Commission on the issue. Gopalaswami argued that the “elections to the state assembly must be completed before the spell of the President’s rule there ended on May 19,2008”. Citing complaints of bogus and “missing voters from the voters’ list” apart from the delimitation exercise (which necessitated revised electoral rolls for the entire state),the Congress,however,wanted elections deferred in the state.

The BJP felt its rival wanted to blunt the “sympathy factor edge” for its chief ministerial candidate B S Yedyurappa,who had earlier led a short-lived coalition government in the state.

After a 2-1 split in the Commission (S Y Quarashi backed Gopalaswami,while Chawla had a different view),the Election Commission decided to go ahead for the election.

It was then left to Karnataka chief electoral officer Ramalinga Ramaseshan’s team of officers,which made the revision of the electoral rolls possible in just about 20 days after the delimitation of assembly segments in the state.

Considered a bright officer,Ramaseshan’s team worked overtime for three weeks,at times sending SMSes to top bosses in the Election Commission at 3 am with progress reports. Ramaseshan was coordinating with Deputy Election Commissioner R Bhattacharya.

It was under Ramaseshan’s supervision earlier,that Microsoft made a software programme to periodically update electoral rolls in the country. The software is being used for a pilot project in a Tamil Nadu district. If successful,and used on a nationwide scale,the software,say experts,could dramatically streamline the way the electoral rolls are prepared and updated in the country.

Having completed the job of revising the electoral rolls in 20-odd days,Ramaseshan took voluntary retirement from the services and joined the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Limited as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

The EC divide,meanwhile,got accentuated in the process. The Congress accused Gopalaswami of turning a blind eye to its charges of inaccuracies and deficiencies in the voters’ list in the state. Gopalaswami cited about the “constitutional obligation” of not deferring the elections.

In the face of the 2-1 split in the Commission,the CEC wrote on record that Chawla was batting for dates that “some political parties were asking for”.

More reports,page 5