Kargil — EC rules out postponement of LS polls

The other Election Commissioner G V G Krishnamurty, who later talked to newsmen separately, said “There is no provision in the Constitution to postpone general elections throughout the country.”

Asked specifically whether there was any chance of delaying the polls in view of developments in Kargil, Gill said “I will not answer any hypothetical question.”

He said the Commission was aware of the complexities the country was facing but it had a constitutional obligation to fulfill. “There is a problem (in Kargil) and I am confident that our Army is totally capable of dealing with it,” he said.

To a question when would the election dates be announced, he said it would be “neither too early nor too late. We will hold parliamentary elections and what time and what schedule, we will decide.”

To a question whether the polling schedule would be staggered, the CEC said even in the past polling was held over four days. “Let us see how it shapes up,” he said.

He said the timing of the dissolution of the last Lok Sabha was “so unfortunate. It gave us just five months to complete the exercise.”

About the Vajpayee government making announcements, he said the Election Commission would address such issues only after the election dates are formally announced.

About allotment of an election symbol to the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), he said the issue had not yet come up at the Election Commission level and that no senior party leader had approached the EC.

Gill said a delegation of leading women organisations had called on him in the morning and pleaded for adequate representation to women in the ensuing polls, disqualification of candidates charged with crimes against women and prevention of sexist remarks during campaigning.

He appealed to all political parties, especially at the national level, to give tickets to more women candidates.

“They have publicly stated their support for more representation to women in Parliament and a constitutional change to effect that. Now is the opportunity for them to show they truly mean what they say,” he said adding that having more women in the Lok Sabha would have a civilising and progressing effect on the performance of Parliament.

Gill said of the 4,750 candidates in the last Lok Sabha elections, only 267 were women. “It is undoubtedly pathetic that in a progressive country like India while women are present in all fields, it is not reflected in the polity,” he said.

About candidates charged with crimes against women, he said all political parties should see to it that “any person who is even remotely connected with such a crime is not put up. The question is not of fielding non-criminals but whether our parties find it difficult to get 543 ideal people to be given tickets for Lok Sabha elections.”

Gill also asked political parties to avoid negative remarks against the Opposition and propagate positive programmes during the campaigning for the “millennium elections”.