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Two-phase poll in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh

	October 15, 2007

The Election Commission has announced two-phase Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.



Gujarat will go to the polls on Dec. 11 and 16, and Himachal Pradesh on Nov. 14 and Dec. 19.



The counting of votes in Gujarat would be taken up on Dec. 23 while in Himachal Pradesh counting would be on Dec. 28.



Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswamy made the an¬nouncement in New Delhi on Oct. 10.



He said the present term of the 182-member Gujarat Assembly would end on December 26 and that of the 68-member Himachal Pradesh House was due to expire on March 9, 2008.



Polls in Himachal Pradesh were slightly advanced in consul¬tation with political parties, taking into account the weather conditions in the early part of next year.



Model code



He said the Model Code of Conduct had come into effect immediately. It would apply to the whole of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and be applicable to all candidates, political parties, State governments and the Union Government.



Gopalaswamy said every effort would be made to ensure a free and fair poll. The minority community in Gujarat, including those staying in camps (after the Godhra train carnage), would be able to vote without fear. They would be given electoral photo identi¬fy cards.



Asked why elections in Gujarat were being held only in two phases while it was a multi-phased exercise in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, he said the requirement and approach to deployment of paramilitary forces were “different.”



He said the Commission would deploy General and Expenditure Observers to ensure smooth conduct of polls. They would be asked to keep a close watch at every stage of the electoral process to ensure free and fair elections.



He said officials in Gujarat against whom there were cases, or those who had been indicted by courts or had acted unfairly in the last polls would not be given poll duty.





Why different yardsticks for different states ? CPI(M)



The CPI(M) has sought a clarification from the Election Commission on the two-phase Assembly elections in Gujarat. The party claimed that the Commission was applying different yard¬sticks to different states.



In a statement, the CPI(M) politburo said that Gujarat which had seen large scale communal violence required only two phase polling when in the May 2006 Assembly elections in Kerala, three phase polling was ordered. The politburo said, in West Bengal, not only was there an unprecedented five-phase poll, but the Election Commission also brought in polling personnel from out¬side the state.



CPI national secretary D. Raja also questioned the logic behind holding polls in only two phases in Gujarat when in West Bengal the Commission had ordered five-phase polling.



The Himachal Pradesh unit of the Congress is not too happy with the polling schedule announced for the state. By imposing the Model Code of Conduct with immediate effect, the Congress government in the state has been denied the opportunity to offer pre-election sops. The Congress was hoping that the elections should be held in February next year. However, the party has not formally registered a protest with the Election Commission so far.





Narendra Modi remains BJP’s chief-ministerial candidate in Gujar¬at



BJP President Rajnath Singh has said that Narendra Modi would remain the party’s chief-ministerial candidate in Gujarat in the coming elections. Addressing a news conference in Lucknow on Oct. 12, he downplayed the increased dissident activity in Gujarat by stating that he had already issued an appeal to state leaders to remaining united. Rajnath Singh claimed that Narendra Modi as Chief Minister had managed to build Gujarat into a model state.





BJP dissidents hope for tie up with Congress



BJP dissidents in Gujarat, some of whom including former Chief Minister Suresh Mehta have already left the party, have been holding meetings to finalise their strategy to take on state Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The dissident leaders had a day long meeting at the residence of former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel on Thursday, Oct. 11,



Apart from Patel, former Chief Minister Suresh Mehta, former Home Minister Gordhan Zadaphia and Vallabhai Kathiria, MP, were among those present.



In a brief statement, they said they would not contest the elections under the leadership of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.



The dissidents made it clear that whether Patel came out openly or not, they would work out their strategy under his guidance. “We want to liberate Gujarat from Modi,” the statement said.



The BJP central party leadership is in a bind on the issue of taking firm disciplinary action against the dissidents. While some of them, Zadaphia included, were suspended and even thrown out of the party earlier, so far no action has been taken against Patel and Mehta. Senior leaders admit privately that any action against Patel may be counterproductive as he commands the loyal¬ty of the numerically strong Patidar community, which dominates Saurashtra. After the recent successful dissident rally in Rajkot attended by Patels, the BJP leadership does not want to do any¬thing that would further push the Patels away from the party.



Some dissident leaders said after the meeting held at the residence of Keshubhai Patel that they could even join the Con¬gress to defeat Narendra Modi



“All options are open. We are not averse to any idea. We can even join the Congress to make sure Modi is defeated,” suspended BJP MLA Gordanbhai Zadafia said. “We are keeping all our options open, though it’s early for us to say anything,” said Rajkot MP Vallabhai Katheria.



The BJP central leadership believes the rebels have painted themselves into a corner since the Congress cannot afford to accept most of them. For instance, Zadafia was Minister of State for Home during the 2002 Gujarat riots and his entry will affect the Congress image.



And the rebels standing alone cannot influence the electoral outcome substantially.





Tacit alliance likely



Wary of the Hindutva credentials of a section of these rebels, the Congress leadership seems to be favouring a tacit understanding rather than entering into a full-fledged alliance with this group.



Even though modalities between the two sides are expected to be worked out during negotiations in the coming days, the deci¬sion to enter into anti-Narendra Modi collaboration has already been taken when former Chief Minister Suresh Mehta, a key player in the anti-Modi campaign, met some senior Congress leaders, including Ahmed Patel earlier this month.





Narendra Modi says he believes in Mahatama’s ideals



Meanwhile, Narendra Modi who addressed the HT Leadership Summit in New Delhi on Oct. 12, said that he believed in the ideals of Mahatama Gandhi.



“Both Mahatama Gandhi and his idea of ‘Ram Rajya’ are relev¬ant for me,” he said in the interaction at the summit.



Asked what the definition of ‘Ram Rajya’ was, he said ac¬cording to Gandhi, it meant a “welfare state.”



Asked if he regretted the Gujarat riots of 2002, he said the people of the state had judged him and done justice. “They have given me a chance once and they will give me another chance.



“You have to decide if you are willing to accept the peo¬ple’s verdict or keep hanging on to the past,” Modi said.



Defending his belief in Hindutva, he said it was an all encompassing philosophy.



Asked if the Muslim minority community in Gujarat felt secure, he said, “when will people get rid of this negativism and see the whole truth. If 18,000 villages are getting electricity 24 hours a day, you can’t split it in 90 per cent and 10 per cent.