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Monday,
August 19, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Cong not against Cabinet decision New Delhi, August 18 “It was the only option left with the BJP and the NDA government. If the government wants to refer it (to the President), we have no problem with that and we have full faith that the Supreme Court will take the right decision”, Congress General Secretary Kamal Nath said. He added that the Election Commission was in the best position to take the decision on the timing of the elections as “it had taken the decision after visiting various areas in Gujarat”. The BJP welcomed the Cabinet decision and said it was the best way to clarify the “Constitutional confusion” created by the EC order. “The EC order had created an atmosphere of Constitutional confusion and the only option to clear it was referring it to the President”, BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said. Not holding elections was neither in the interest of the state, nor of its people, he said, adding that “the EC had not given concrete reason for not holding the elections”. CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury said the Cabinet had shown utter contempt for the independent existential status of the EC. It also displayed their intention to actually use the communal polarisation in Gujarat to their political advantage and against the country’s integrity, he added. Asserting that there was “no Constitutional crisis” as was being portrayed by the Cabinet, Mr Yechury said Article 324 had given the EC the “sole right to determine whether it could hold free and fair elections” and Article 174 “applied only to a live Assembly”. Hence the BJP government’s claims about a Constitutional crisis was “totally hollow”, he said. In a statement, the CPI-ML, while criticising the Cabinet decision, said the President “should take this opportunity to affirm the autonomy and dignity of the EC, recommend dismissal of the Narendra Modi government and impose President’s rule in Gujarat.” |
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Poll standoff: Modi hails Cabinet move
Ahmedabad, August 18 The Union Cabinet had decided to refer the issue to the Supreme Court through the President under Article 143. In a press statement here, the Chief Minister said the Election Commission’s decision on Assembly elections in the state was against the provisions of the Constitution. The decision had created a constitutional crisis and the Union Cabinet’s decision of referring the issue to the President was the best, he said. The EC on Friday ruled out an early conduct of Assembly elections in the state. Meanwhile, Gujarat Congress chief Shankarsinh Vaghela said the Cabinet’s decision was the BJP’s stand against the Election Commission. The Cabinet was doing the BJP’s job via the President to the Supreme Court, Mr Vaghela said. He alleged that indirectly it was the BJP’s line to have a confrontation with the Election Commission via the President and the Supreme Court. Nobody could rule out the EC’s decision, he added. If the NDA imposed President’s rule in the state, it would indicate the acceptance of the Congress demand and so the BJP was attempting face-saving by approaching the President and then the apex court, Mr Vaghela said. Gujarat BJP chief Rajendrasinh Rana welcomed the decision as the means to find a way out. Mr Rana said the state unit was also keeping a close watch on future developments in this regard.
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