Sandesh Prabhudesai
21 March 1999
The election commission seems to be not in a mood to entertain demand
of majority Goans to postpone the Assembly polls by six more months, as two major parties
in the Parliament favour elections by May end, besides the central government.
Dr Manohar Singh Gill, the chief election commissioner, during his
two-day visit here clearly indicated that holding elections after monsoons (not before
October) is not in his hands if the President’s rule is not extended further. Its
existing term ends on 9 August.
"The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, besides the BJP-led
central government, have demanded polls by May end. The same parties would ultimately
decide in the Parliament whether to extend the President’s rule. Now you interpret
the situation and decide", said Gill at a press conference held today morning, before
leaving for Delhi.
After inaugurating a demonstration centre of electronic voting machines
in the city today morning, Gill also officially announced that Goa would be the first
state to use the EVMs in all the 40 Assembly constituencies, having 1135 polling stations
and covering over eight lakh voters in the tourist state.
He also met all the political parties on Saturday, besides holding a
meeting with the local election officials. While the Congress, the BJP and the
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party demanded elections by May end, all other political groups
as well as citizens groups have requested the CEC to postpone the polls till November.
As majority of Goans here are fed up with the defection games of the
greedy politicians due to which they prefer the President’s rule, Gill has however
expressed his helplessness in arresting the problem at his level.
Though he did not mind deciding on disqualification of the elected
representatives if the Parliament decides to amend the law and transfer these powers from
the "political" speaker to the "constitutional authority" like the
election commission, Gill feels the commission is already overloaded with lots of
responsibilities.
Even stopping the inflow of criminal elements as the candidates is not
entirely in the hands of the election commission, clarified the CEC once again, stating
that the norm of not allowing criminals into active politics should be actually followed
by the political parties if they are really serious about putting an end to
criminalisation of politics.
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