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EC `partial' in holding staggered polls: CPI(M)

Kasaragod: Accusing the Election Commission of being `partial' in holding staggered Assembly elections in Kerala and West Bengal, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat has said that he will raise the issue in Parliament.

While the party-dominated West Bengal is going to polls in five phases and Kerala in three phases, Tamil Nadu, which is almost thrice the geographical size of Kerala, is having a single-phase election. This is quite an ``illogical decision'' by the Election Commission, he said.

``The issue would be raised in Parliament,'' the CPI-M leader told a `Meet-the-Leader' programme here on Sunday. Alleging that the Congress-led Government in Kerala had `failed' to resolve the crisis in the agriculture sector in the State, Mr. Karat said the Left-ruled West Bengal had been able to make `tremendous strides' in the agriculture sector.

On the recent remarks by BJP leader L.K. Advani on the future of Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre, he said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance was `disintegrating' with many of its allies, including AIADMK, Telugu Desam and National Conference leaving it.

On Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's remarks that the CPI(M) was playing the communal card to woo minority voters, Mr. Karat said it was the ruling UDF which was seeking the support of various `communal forces'.

— PTI

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