Nitish to meet CEC over Godhra report

Former railway minister and top Janata Dal-U leader Nitish Kumar is likely to meet the Chief Election Commissioner, T S Krishna Murthy, over the Banerjee Commission report on the Godhra blaze during the CEC's visit to Patna on Wednesday.

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Nitish has already written to the Election Commission seeking a ban on the use of the report in the forthcoming assembly polls in Bihar and Jharkhand.

Sources close to the JD(U) leader told rediff.com that Nitish and some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders would meet the CEC and file a plea regarding the matter.

CEC Krishna Murthy and two other EC officials will be visiting Bihar on Wednesday to review preparations for the assembly polls, which will take place next month.

Nitish Kumar has said that the report is politically motivated and warned that it can be used by Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav to sway voters.

The timing of the report indicates that it was stage-managed by the railway minister.

"In the interest of fair and impartial elections, any use of the interim report in any form by any political party or candidate ought to be prohibited," Nitish said in his letter faxed to the EC.