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Pledge on civic polls has not been kept

Rajesh Nair

PHOTO: T. SINGARAVELOU

V.A. Vasudevaraju

PONDICHERRY: A statement made by Chief Minister N. Rangasamy last week that "his Government has fulfilled all poll promises" would have gone unnoticed if it hadn't been for a former IAS officer.

V. A. Vasudevaraju, who has been campaigning for elections to the civic body, which have been pending for a decade now, pointed out that a poll promise by all political parties to hold local body elections had not been fulfilled yet.

"It has not been conducted so far even after all the hurdles were cleared a long time ago," he said. "How can the Chief Minister make such a statement when an important promise by his Government still remains only on paper." Soon after he took over, the Chief Minister had pointed to the necessity for amending municipal laws and clearing legal hurdles to conduct the election.

"All those amendments and legal hurdles were cleared two years ago. You had enough time to hold the election by this time. Now, in four months the Assembly elections will be declared and it is next to impossible to have the civic election before that," Mr. Vasudevaraju said.

He said it was a clear violation of the Constitution and "disregarded" the appeal of President Abul Kalam in his address to the Assembly on November 1, 2004 to hold the civic elections immediately.

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