ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

BJP to finalise poll lists on November 1-3

The Bharatiya Janata Party's central election committee will meet in New Delhi from November 1-3 to finalise the list of candidates for next month's assembly election in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan.

The party's state units have been asked to finalise their recommendations by October 30, so that they could reach the capital with their respective lists for final approval by November 1.

BJP general secretary M Venkaiah Naidu said the CEC will take up Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram on November 1, Rajasthan on the following day and the Delhi list on November 3.

Assembly by-elections are scheduled in Bengal, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. A Lok Sabha by-election is scheduled in Bharuch in Gujarat.

The BJP high command has directed the four state units, which are going to the polls on November 25, to set up manifesto committees and get the drafts ready by October 20 so that the central leadership can meet in New Delhi on October 23 to give final touches to them. ''The states will release their manifestos after the nominations are announced in their respective states,'' Naidu added.

The BJP high command has also decided to appoint election campaign committees for these four states.

Naidu said the party will step up its campaign against the ''jungle raj'' in Bihar. He gave the latest example of an alleged gang rape of a 14-year-old girl by relatives of a former chief minister. ''The culprits are moving freely in Patna,'' he charged.

Quoting some surveys carried out in Bihar, he said one survey showed that 70 per cent of the people favoured imposition of Article 356 in the state while another shows that 50 per cent of the population favoured imposition of President's rule.

Naidu said the BJP will ''persuade'' the government to bring out a white paper on the misuse of Article 356 by previous governments so that it could be presented during the winter session of Parliament. ''We want a debate on this issue both inside and outside Parliament,'' he asserted.

Reiterating the demand for a public debate on the use of Article 356, the BJP leader said his party will launch a mass campaign to apprise the people of Bihar about the views of various political parties on this score. ''We will also launch a mass awareness programme on Bihar throughout the country after the festival season,'' he added.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report