Chidambaram slams Election Commission for not announcing Gujarat poll schedule
TNN Bureau. Updated: 10/20/2017 11:37:12 AM
Politics
Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday criticised the Election Commission saying that by not announcing the Gujarat poll schedule, it has “authorised” Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare the dates at his last rally, after all “freebies” for the state had been distributed.
He claimed that the Election Commission will be “recalled” from its “extended holiday” after the Gujarat government has announced all the “concessions and freebies“.
“EC has authorised PM to announce date of Gujarat elections at his last rally (and kindly keep EC informed),” he tweeted.
On October 12 the EC had announced that the polling for the assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh will take place on November 9, but had not announced the Gujarat poll schedule.
Polling in the western state would be held before December 18, it had announced. The Congress had alleged that the government had pressurised the poll panel to “delay” the announcement of Gujarat assembly poll schedule to enable the prime minister to act as a “false santa claus” and offer sops, use “jumlas” (rhetoric) during his October 16 visit to his home state.
The model code of conduct would have come into immediate effect in Gujarat had the poll schedule been announced along with Himachal Pradesh, the party had said. Hitting back at the Congress for targeting the EC, BJP leader and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said allegations levelled against the constitutional body were baseless.
“It is absolutely absurd. It’s like questioning the prudence of the EC. The Congress is perhaps speaking out of its own experience where interference in the functioning of constitutional bodies used to be a thing in their rule. Such is not the case since 2014,” he had said.“Let me also add, this tells that they are jittery about BJP’s prospects in the state,” Prasad had said.