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All-party meet for single-phase polls

Special Correspondent

Consensus on polls by October-end

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An all-party meeting conducted by the State Election Commission (SEC) here on Thursday reached a consensus on holding the elections to local self-government institutions in the State in one phase by October-end.

The commission held the meeting to inform the political parties that it was ready to hold the elections to all local bodies except six district panchayats, 14 block and two grama panchayats in time so that they can assume office on October 2. Since the delimitation of wards has not been completed in the 22 civic bodies, there are practical difficulties in holding the elections simultaneously.

State Election Commissioner P. Kamalkutty is understood to have said in his opening remarks that the legal issues that cropped up during the delimitation process were delaying the elections. Delimitation of wards was done in all elections since the Panchayati Raj Act came into force in 1994.

SEC proposal

Though the commission had taken up the issues regarding ward delimitation with successive governments, it had not yielded any result so far. The commission could only apprise the government of the issues and not force it into taking decisions. The commissioner proposed that the delimitation of wards be done only in the general election that came after a census. After delimiting the Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies in 1973, the Central Election Commission took up the task only in 2009. This could be emulated.

Reactions

United Democratic Front (UDF) leaders who attended the meeting accused the government of failing to give due importance to the delimitation process. Had the government gone by the advice of the commission, it could have averted a court intervention, the leaders who emerged from the meeting told reporters. Since the tenure of the existing local bodies would expire on October 2, the government should delegate the powers to run the routine business to local body secretaries. They were opposed to the government appointing a panel of officials to govern the civic bodies or delaying the elections. The model code should be enforced from October 2.

LDF leaders said the situation was necessitated by the court decision and the government was not to be blamed for it. The commission should take a decision on the poll code, they said.

The government laxity in ward delimitation was the main reason for the impasse, the BJP said. The commission will report the proposals to the government and seek its opinion. A final decision on the date will be made only after eliciting legal opinion.

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