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Manoeuvring for advantage

With the Union Cabinet deciding to implement the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission on redefining Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies, there is now a wholly avoidable uncertainty over the Assembly election in Karnataka, where the six-month-term of President’s Rule is to end on May 28. Once the notification on the delimitation is signed by the President, the general election will have to be held on the basis of the redefined constituencies, which in turn will require the Election Commission to get the electoral rolls revised accordingly. Such an exercise is expected to take three or four months, and will render the constitution of the new Assembly by May 28 virtually impossible. Only a few days earlier the draft electoral rolls for 208 of the 224 constituencies in Karnataka had been published. The whole process has to be gone through again in the event of the President notifying the delimited constituencies. Karnataka cannot be equated with the five States — Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Jharkhand — where the delimitation exercise has been deferred through amendments to the Delimitation Act. The delimitation was postponed in the four north-eastern States because of opposition to several rural constituencies being converted to urban ones, and in Jharkhand because of opposition to the number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes coming down. As it would not be possible to exclude Karnataka alone from the delimitation exercise at this stage, the Centre should put off the Presidential notification so as to enable the Election Commission to hold the election to the State Assembly without loss of time on the basis of the current voters’ list prepared as per the existing constituencies.

Any attempt to use the delimitation notification to delay the election in Karnataka cannot but be seen as politically motivated. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government does not, understandably, sense any political advantage in an early election, but it must resist the temptation of using the opportunity to delay the election process. Voters will see through such manipulative acts, and the Congress might have a political price to pay if it opts for such delaying tactics. Moreover, any delay could lead to a constitutional minefield. Once the notification is signed by the President and the Election Commission initiates the process of revision of rolls, Parliament will find itself forced to extend President’s Rule in the State, as a failure to do so will trigger a constitutional crisis. The Centre must therefore desist from such manoeuvres and hold the notification in abeyance so that the election to the Karnataka Assembly is not delayed on a deliberately contrived technicality.

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