NEW DELHI, January 3: Confronted by complaints by political parties about the 21-day long election schedule, the Election Commission will re-examine the same, though insiders feel a change in the dates is unlikely.Today the CPI joined the ranks of political parties which have voiced apprehensions about the six-day long intervals between the polling days for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections scheduled for February 16, 22, 28 and March 7.
In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill, CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan has asked the EC to cut down on the long gaps between polling dates as it would prove to be a "strain" on the political parties.
Referring to the disadvantages of having too long a gap between polls, Bardhan said there was the possibility of the public being swayed by happenings and media reporting after the first phase of polling was over. Ensuring the safety of ballot boxes could also become a serious problem since the counting of votes on March 8 was a full 21 days after the first
day of polling.
The BJP had expressed its dismay over the poll schedule announced by Gill on January 1, and is planning to seek a meeting with the three-member Commission to press its demand that the polling period be reduced.
The Dal has written to the Commission voicing its fears that the long intervals could give a chance for tampering with ballot boxes, especially in violence-prone constituencies.
Since Gill is away on an inspection tour of the poll arrangements in Punjab and Haryana, the earliest that the Commission will meet to consider the requests of the political parties would be on Monday.
Nirvachan Sadan insiders, however say the poll schedule was worked out keeping in view the constraints that the Home Ministry faced in the logistics of moving the paramilitary forces to sensitive states in the North-East and later to Jammu and Kashmir.
There were six rounds of meetings between the Commission and the Home Ministry, including two sittings of the full Commission and the Home Secretary,
where the law and order situation in different states, the demands made by the state governments and the security reinforcements that the Centre would make available were sorted out.
The Commission has called a meeting of the Chief Electoral Officers of all the states and Union Territories on Wednesday to review poll-preparedness and security arrangements, both for conducting the polls and for safe-guarding the ballot boxes.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
