05-07-2008, 11:56 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-acharya+Apr 30 2008, 08:55 AM-->QUOTE(acharya @ Apr 30 2008, 08:55 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->RS okays extension of President's Rule in Karnataka
New Delhi (PTI): The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday approved extension of President's Rule in Karnataka for six months from May 20.[COLOR=red]
(What is this; this yr or last yr.?)
Moving a Statutory Resolution in this regard, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said extension of the President's Rule had become necessary as the Assembly poll process could not be completed before May 19, the day the Central rule expires.
Karnataka was brought under President's Rule on November 20 following political instability and the Election Commission has announced a three-phase polling on May 10, May 16 and May 22. Counting is slated for May 25.
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Chawla wanted late Karnataka polls, CEC said no, thatâs what some parties want
Suman K Jha
Posted online: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 at 0024 hrs Print Email
New Delhi, May 6: With the first phase of elections in Karnataka less than a week away, it now emerges that there was a deep divide in the Election Commission over the poll dates. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) N Gopalaswami has put on record that his colleague and Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, by asking for deferring the polls, was pitching for dates that âsome of the political parties have been asking for.â
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Elections News Online Vote Political Government
Over-ruling Chawla, the CEC said that if elections were not held before the end of May â the end of six months of Presidentâs Rule â the EC would invite âsevere criticismâ of the Supreme Court. Chawla argued for delaying elections until August â the Congress had made the same demand â which was strongly rebutted by Gopalaswami in an internal note, accessed by The Indian Express.
When contacted, Gopalaswami said he had nothing to add âto what he had already said.â Chawla couldnât be reached for comment despite several attempts.
Incidentally, the BJP was for early elections, the CPM wanted it âat the earliest,â while the BSP and the CPI pushed for postponement.
According to EC records, the CEC made a point-by-point rebuttal of Chawlaâs arguments favouring an August election.
âDuring the discussion (on March 14, 2008) he (Chawla) was for a 15-day extension of the Presidentâs Rule, meaning thereby that the elections can be completed by mid-June. However, now he indicates that the Commission would be well advised to treat August 2008 as the earliest month for conducting Assembly elections in Karnataka...This really means October-November 2008 (due to the rains in the intervening period) which is exactly what some of the political parties have been asking for,â wrote Gopalaswami in the 39-page âopinionâ dated March 20, 2008.
This was the very day that the EC announced the election dates for Karnataka beginning May 10 and ending May 22.
The Congress cited âcomplaints of bogus and missing voters in the votersâ listâ apart from the âdelimitation exerciseâ in support for deferring the election dates, making the BJP claim that its principal rival wanted to blunt the âsympathy factor edgeâ for its chief ministerial candidate B S Yedyurappa.
The Karnataka Congress opposed a May poll citing mistakes in electoral rolls but the only âspecific complaintâ to have reached the EC was from a former Congress MLA of Malleswaram (in Bengaluru) M R Seetharam, who alleged that the âdraft votersâ list of 2008 had 29,751 new voters while 16,831 voters from the earlier list had been deletedâ.
Chawla found this to be a legitimate complaint. The CEC expressed his surprise. â...Chawla seems to have been taken in by this complaint so as to remark in obvious support of the complaint of large-scale errors in the roll. An 11% change over four years works out to an average of 2.75 % per annum, which in a city like Bengaluru would come as no surprise.â
Chawla also found merit in BSP and Congress claims that âall voters would not be able to vote in eight hours in polling stations with voter strength of 4,000-5,000, much above the maximum of 1,400-1,600 limitâ. Said Chawla: âThe Commission would not be in a position to take steps to establish the requisite administrative machinery to meet such an exigency of severely enhanced number of voters per polling booth.â
This prompted Gopalaswami to note: âI am at a loss to know how he could come to such an a priori conclusion... The issue was discussed in the March 4 meeting with district electoral officers, and they have been permitted to go for auxiliary booths in the same premises or additional booths in a new location.â
Chawla also agreed with political partiesâ view that the low coverage of voters with electoral photo identity cards (EPICs) was a âsevere challengeâ for holding free and fair elections in the state. The CEC reminded his colleague that âin Assam not even one single EPIC was distributed yet the Commission conducted an election which was free from complaintsâ. He added that while an EPIC maximization programme was underway, âthe Commission itself approves the use of alternative documents.â
The two EC colleagues also sparred over the Rule 24 of Registration of Electorsâ Rules 1960 that says âin case of delimitation of constituencies, if the EC needs to urgently prepare the rolls of the existing constituencies, it should put together rolls of existing constituencies or parts thereof as are comprised within the constituency, and by appropriate renumbering and recompilationâ.
Chawla said that the rule was a constitutional convention and not a mandate, and that the EC âhad eight months to comply with newly delimited constituenciesâ. Gopalaswami however said that the Commission had completed preparation of electoral rolls in a shorter time in the state than envisaged earlier.
âThe failure of the Commission to conduct and complete elections to the Karnataka Assembly before the expiry of six months, which would be end-May, 2008, would, in my view invite severe criticism of the (Supreme) Court, as, the consequence of such a failure would be an extension of the Presidentâs Rule in Karnataka,â he added.
New Delhi (PTI): The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday approved extension of President's Rule in Karnataka for six months from May 20.[COLOR=red]
(What is this; this yr or last yr.?)
Moving a Statutory Resolution in this regard, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said extension of the President's Rule had become necessary as the Assembly poll process could not be completed before May 19, the day the Central rule expires.
Karnataka was brought under President's Rule on November 20 following political instability and the Election Commission has announced a three-phase polling on May 10, May 16 and May 22. Counting is slated for May 25.
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Chawla wanted late Karnataka polls, CEC said no, thatâs what some parties want
Suman K Jha
Posted online: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 at 0024 hrs Print Email
New Delhi, May 6: With the first phase of elections in Karnataka less than a week away, it now emerges that there was a deep divide in the Election Commission over the poll dates. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) N Gopalaswami has put on record that his colleague and Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, by asking for deferring the polls, was pitching for dates that âsome of the political parties have been asking for.â
Related Stories
âWe followed Maoist diktat, and resignedâModi promises âanother Gujaratâ in KarnatakaHouse In NumbersBJP got UPA to work on Speaker, withdraw case against 32 MPsSlamming Rahulâs 'coterie', ex-minister quits Cong, House
Ad Links
Elections News Online Vote Political Government
Over-ruling Chawla, the CEC said that if elections were not held before the end of May â the end of six months of Presidentâs Rule â the EC would invite âsevere criticismâ of the Supreme Court. Chawla argued for delaying elections until August â the Congress had made the same demand â which was strongly rebutted by Gopalaswami in an internal note, accessed by The Indian Express.
When contacted, Gopalaswami said he had nothing to add âto what he had already said.â Chawla couldnât be reached for comment despite several attempts.
Incidentally, the BJP was for early elections, the CPM wanted it âat the earliest,â while the BSP and the CPI pushed for postponement.
According to EC records, the CEC made a point-by-point rebuttal of Chawlaâs arguments favouring an August election.
âDuring the discussion (on March 14, 2008) he (Chawla) was for a 15-day extension of the Presidentâs Rule, meaning thereby that the elections can be completed by mid-June. However, now he indicates that the Commission would be well advised to treat August 2008 as the earliest month for conducting Assembly elections in Karnataka...This really means October-November 2008 (due to the rains in the intervening period) which is exactly what some of the political parties have been asking for,â wrote Gopalaswami in the 39-page âopinionâ dated March 20, 2008.
This was the very day that the EC announced the election dates for Karnataka beginning May 10 and ending May 22.
The Congress cited âcomplaints of bogus and missing voters in the votersâ listâ apart from the âdelimitation exerciseâ in support for deferring the election dates, making the BJP claim that its principal rival wanted to blunt the âsympathy factor edgeâ for its chief ministerial candidate B S Yedyurappa.
The Karnataka Congress opposed a May poll citing mistakes in electoral rolls but the only âspecific complaintâ to have reached the EC was from a former Congress MLA of Malleswaram (in Bengaluru) M R Seetharam, who alleged that the âdraft votersâ list of 2008 had 29,751 new voters while 16,831 voters from the earlier list had been deletedâ.
Chawla found this to be a legitimate complaint. The CEC expressed his surprise. â...Chawla seems to have been taken in by this complaint so as to remark in obvious support of the complaint of large-scale errors in the roll. An 11% change over four years works out to an average of 2.75 % per annum, which in a city like Bengaluru would come as no surprise.â
Chawla also found merit in BSP and Congress claims that âall voters would not be able to vote in eight hours in polling stations with voter strength of 4,000-5,000, much above the maximum of 1,400-1,600 limitâ. Said Chawla: âThe Commission would not be in a position to take steps to establish the requisite administrative machinery to meet such an exigency of severely enhanced number of voters per polling booth.â
This prompted Gopalaswami to note: âI am at a loss to know how he could come to such an a priori conclusion... The issue was discussed in the March 4 meeting with district electoral officers, and they have been permitted to go for auxiliary booths in the same premises or additional booths in a new location.â
Chawla also agreed with political partiesâ view that the low coverage of voters with electoral photo identity cards (EPICs) was a âsevere challengeâ for holding free and fair elections in the state. The CEC reminded his colleague that âin Assam not even one single EPIC was distributed yet the Commission conducted an election which was free from complaintsâ. He added that while an EPIC maximization programme was underway, âthe Commission itself approves the use of alternative documents.â
The two EC colleagues also sparred over the Rule 24 of Registration of Electorsâ Rules 1960 that says âin case of delimitation of constituencies, if the EC needs to urgently prepare the rolls of the existing constituencies, it should put together rolls of existing constituencies or parts thereof as are comprised within the constituency, and by appropriate renumbering and recompilationâ.
Chawla said that the rule was a constitutional convention and not a mandate, and that the EC âhad eight months to comply with newly delimited constituenciesâ. Gopalaswami however said that the Commission had completed preparation of electoral rolls in a shorter time in the state than envisaged earlier.
âThe failure of the Commission to conduct and complete elections to the Karnataka Assembly before the expiry of six months, which would be end-May, 2008, would, in my view invite severe criticism of the (Supreme) Court, as, the consequence of such a failure would be an extension of the Presidentâs Rule in Karnataka,â he added.