UP Govt wants more time

NEW DELHI, JAN 8: The BJP-led coalition government in Uttar Pradesh is contemplating to delay the Assembly elections by six months. The Ra...

NEW DELHI, JAN 8: The BJP-led coalition government in Uttar Pradesh is contemplating to delay the Assembly elections by six months. The Ram Prakash Gupta Government has sought legal opinion on the issue and is learnt to have procured a favourable response.

By delaying elections, the state government wants to compensate for the delay in formation of an elected government in the state. No party emrged a clean winner in the October 1996 elections and with no coalition to be in sight, the then Governor Romesh Bhandari invoked Article 356 clamping President’s Rule.

Apprehending another spell of President’s rule before dissolution of the Assembly, the BJP and BSP agreed to form a coalition government with Chief Ministership rotating between Mayawati and Kalyan Singh every six months. Mayawati however, pulled down the Kalyan Singh Government only one month after handing the baton over to him in October 1997. Kalyan survived by splitting a number of opposition parties.

After the October 1996 polls, the nextAssembly elections should be due in October 2001. But, the present UP Govt feels that the longevity of the Assembly should be five years. Since Bhandari delayed constituting the Assembly by six months, the Assembly results too should be delayed by the same period, claimed UP Minister Sardar Singh today.