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Eight N-E parties stay away from EC meet

The representatives of 46 recognised political parties today expressed divergent views on the schedule of the Lok Sabha elections. The parties were attending an Election Commission meeting which had been called to finalise the Lok Sabha poll dates.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party and many of its allies want early elections, the Congress and other parties said they should be held after the revision of the electoral rolls.

Electoral rolls are being revised all over the country, except in Assam, Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir, to include all those who have turned 18 as on January 1, 1998. The process is to be completed on July 30.

Of the 46 parties, which participated in the meeting, six were national parties. These are the Congress, BJP, Janata Dal, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India-Marxist and Bahujan Samaj Party.

Eight regional parties could not participate in the meeting due to various reasons. The eight are Mizo National Front, Mizo People's Conference, Mizo National Front-Nationalist, People's Democratic Front, Sikkim Sangram Parishad, Tripura Upajati Yuva Samiti, United Democratic Front and Autonomous State Development Council.

The major parties which participated in the discussion are the Congress, BJP, Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India-Marxist.

The final decision on holding elections will be taken by the Election Commission after hearing the views of all political parties. Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill presided over the meeting.

Among those who attended the meeting were Sharad Pawar and Pranab Mukherjee (Congress), M Venkaiah Naidu and Vijay Kumar Malhotra (BJP), D Raja (CPI), Sitaram Yechuri (CPI-M), Kanshi Ram (BSP), Sharad Yadav (JD), Om Prakash Chautala (Indian National Lok Dal), Dinesh Trivedi (Trinamul Congress), Dr Subramanian Swamy (Janata Party), Yerran Naidu (Telugu Desam Party), and P I Handoo (National Conference).

Election Commissioner G V G Krishnamurthy told the media yesterday that the Commission would decide on ''a date which would ensure a better voter turnout and uninterrupted communication network''.

He said that, in May and June, many parts of the country would be reeling under severe heat wave. From July to September several places would face the problem of heavy rains and cyclone, he said.

This clearly indicates the LS polls may be held in October. However, it is still not clear whether the Commission would go in for a simultaneous poll to the Lok Sabha and nine state assemblies.

UNI

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