All opposition parties have urged the Election Commission to hold the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh under central police forces, with direct monitoring by the Commission. The parties, however, said they are ready for elections anytime. They also ''authorised'' the Chief Election Commissioner to fix the dates for the assembly polls. Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav has already written to the Election Commission, seeking polls in the state in February next year.
''Free and fair polls are not possible under the present Mulayam Singh Yadav government in the state as it was seen during the just concluded civic polls,'' was a common stand of the opposition parties during their meeting with Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy in Lucknow on Thursday.
The Bahujan Samaj Party and Bharatiya Janata Party had demanded holding of the elections under President's Rule but the Congress said the polls should be held on the 'Bihar Formula' in several phases under strict supervision of the EC and central forces. Gopalaswamy along with Deputy Election Commissioner R Balakrishnan met representatives of eight recognised political parties to discuss the assembly polls.
The CEC wanted to know from the political parties when they thought the election should be held. Rashtriya Lok Dal, an ally of the ruling Samajwadi Party government in the state, though supporting holding polls in February, suggested deployment of central forces during elections.
Meanwhile, SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, who met the CEC, said all allegations against the present government were ''baseless''.
''If the government machinery was misused during the civic polls then how come opposition candidates won so many seats,'' he quipped. He said Congress President Sonia Gandhi also won the Rae Bareli Lok Sabhs bypoll with a landslide margin.
''Deployment of central forces during assembly polls is not a new thing and demand for it by the opposition parties only proves that they have nothing to say against the government,'' he said.
Criticising the opposition for demanding elections under president's rule, the SP leader and Rajya Sabha member said if elections in Gujarat after riots could be held under Modi government then why the demand for central forces in UP. Yadav said he had also conveyed to the CEC that the opposition allegation that only Yadav community was being benefitted in the present regime was an attempt to malign the image of the state.
A BJP delegation led by state party president Keshri Nath Tripathi and leader of the opposition in the assembly Lalji Tandon was the first to meet the CEC. The leaders demanded that assembly polls be held under President's Rule. They said no free and fair polls were possible under the Mulayam regime. ''We have no faith in the UP police so only central forces should be used during the elections,'' they further demanded.
While claiming that the BJP was ready for the polls, they said that the EC should take in consideration the Ardh Kumbh mela at Allahabad, Holi and the board exams before announcing the dates of the elections.
The BSP delegation led by legislature party leader Swami Prasad Maurya also supported the demand for imposition of President's Rule.
They said that elections should be held in seven phases under strict supervision of central forces. ''The party is ready for the polls anytime and it is up to the EC to decide the dates,'' they added.
Congress legislature party leader Pramod Tiwari, who led the Congress team, urged the CEC to hold the polls in the state on the Bihar pattern.
They also explained to the CEC the ''harrassment'' of some officials who did not obey the dictats of the Samajwadi Party in the civic polls.
The Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India-Marxist raised the irregularities in the voters lists and demanded that the elections should be closely monitored by the EC as the present government would do anything to rig the polls. The CPI team was led by Ashok Mishra and CPI-M team by Vijay Sant.
The RLD delegation led for former minister Munna Singh Chauhan supported the government's view to hold the elections in February but under strict supervision of the EC. They also demanded that the election process should be shorter and Election Photo Identity Card should not be made mandatory during the polls.
The Nationalist Congress Party also urged the CEC to hold elections under tight security arrangements.
However, during the meeting Gopalaswamy assured the representatives of all political parties that the Commission would consider their suggestions and apprehensions raised by them before announcing the poll dates.
Meanwhile, state chief secretary N C Bajpai, Director General of Police Bua Singh and Principal Secretary (home) S K Agarwal met the CEC to discuss the state's preparedness of the elections.
The DGP has reportedly told the CEC that the law and order situation in the state was conducive for holding free and fair polls.