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Elections before May 14: CEC

Atiq Khan

Poll panel's directive to State Government to shift officers who have stayed in their place of posting for more than three years

LUCKNOW: Officers of the State Government departments who have stayed in their place of posting for more than three years in the districts will be moved out. The Election Commission of India's latest directive to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary makes it mandatory for the Government to identify and shift such officials before this coming January 7. The directive means that a new set of officials will be posted in the districts during the Vidhan Sabha elections in the State in the New Year.

The EC directive comes against the backdrop of Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswamy's two-day visit to the State. Mr. Gopalaswamy, who arrived in Lucknow on Tuesday morning, left immediately for Faizabad to preside over a meeting of Faizabad Division officials and review the progress of revision of electoral rolls. On Wednesday, Mr. Gopalaswamy will conduct the meeting of Lucknow and Kanpur divisions before returning to Delhi.

In Faizabad, Mr. Gopalaswamy told reporters that the UP polls would be held at all costs before May 14, 2007. He said that at present the Commission was preoccupied with the electoral rolls revision process.

Prior to the CEC's visit, the two Election Commissioners, S.Y. Qureishi and Naveen Chawla, had reviewed the progress of voters' list revision and electronic photo identity cards (EPIC) of Allahabad, Moradabad and Bareilly divisions. In a full-fledged pre-poll exercise, the EC had earlier despatched 21 IAS officers on December 10 for reviewing the progress of the rolls. These officers were allotted separate districts and the exercise was conducted on December 11.

Mr. Gopalaswamy's visit --- his second in the past one month --- and that of the ECs are seen as the final step before the Commission takes the crucial decision of announcing the schedule of the elections in the State. The EC directive on officials seemed to suggest that the Commission wanted to ensure that the polls are held in a free and fair manner, unlike in the recent local bodies elections which were marked by blatant misuse of official machinery allegedly by the party in power in Uttar Pradesh.

In fact, sources said that the directives to the Government followed representations to the EC by the BJP, the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party. These parties had expressed apprehension that it would be impossible to conduct free and fair elections with Mulayam Singh Yadav at the helm of affairs. In their meeting with President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam in Delhi later the BJP and BSP leaders had demanded imposition of President's rule in UP.

Policemen from the level of inspectors to IG ranked officers would be affected most by the EC diktats. Many PCS officers, including additional district magistrates, block development officers considered close to the ruling establishment, tehsildars and revenue and development officials came in the same category and will have to be shunted out.

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