The Hindu : Karnataka News : EC urged to ensure free, fair polls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 26, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

EC urged to ensure free, fair polls

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, APRIL 25. The President of the BJP State unit, H.N. Ananth Kumar, today said he feared that the Congress party would misuse the official machinery during the second phase of elections to the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assembly to be held on Monday.

Participating in a meet-the-press programme organised by the Press Club of Bangalore here, he appealed to the Election Commission and the Chief Electoral Officer to take stringent measures and ensure free and fair polls. "Violence and booth capturing took place during the first phase of elections held on April 20 and electoral violence has become common in the four and a half years of Congress rule. It was never the case earlier in the State," Mr. Kumar said. There were flagrant electoral malpractices during the elections to the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) Council held in 2001, he alleged.

Claiming that the BJP would win a record number of Lok Sabha seats and secure a "comfortable majority" in the Assembly, the BJP leader said there was "a clear, visible, pro-Vajpayee and anti-State Government wave" in favour of the BJP. The people would vote for change and give a clear verdict in favour of the BJP, he said.

The non-performance of the Government, and the BJP's continuous campaign both inside and outside the Legislature on issues such as the stamp paper racket, death of the former Minister, H. Nagappa, online lottery and "bad management" of drought, had dented the Government' image, he said.

Widespread corruption had also sullied its image. The State's borrowings increased from Rs. 20,000 crore in 1999 to Rs. 40,000 crore in 2004 and the Government had no money to pay the salary of teachers and honour the bills of contractors. The electorate had decided to reject Congress and was looking to the BJP for a change, he claimed.

Asked if he was in the race for the post of the Chief Minister if the BJP secured a majority, he said the party would decide about it. "Let us cross the bridge when we get to it," he said.

About exit poll results, the BJP leader said they were broad indicators, and the party would take the message from them and move forward. To a question on why the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, had been brought for campaigning in the State, Mr. Kumar said Mr. Modi informed the people how his Government had taken up reconstruction work in earthquake-hit areas and provided water from the Narmada Dam to irrigate barren land in Kutch. "It is worth emulating the Gujarat model of development," Mr. Kumar said.

But the State Government led by the "hi-tech" Chief Minister had not handed over to Gujarat the earthquake relief fund of Rs. 20 crore that it collected through contributions from government employees. "The Government has no business to keep that money," he said.

Asked about the deletion of names of voters from the electoral rolls, Mr. Kumar said the personnel involved in the preparation of electoral rolls should more careful when preparing the voters list.

There was a need to create a national register of citizenship and issue multipurpose identity cards to the citizens to put an end to the recurrence of the phenomenon of arbitrary deletion of names from the electoral rolls.

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