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Gowda ridicules Congress for move to notify delimitation

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) president, H.D. Deve Gowda, on Thursday ridiculed the Congress for deciding to notify the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission, which could pave the way for postponement of elections to the Karnataka Assembly.

Noting that perhaps the Congress thought that it would benefit the party as it could lead to the postponement of the elections, he said he was confident that such a thing was not going to happen. “The Central government is free to do what it likes. If it thinks it will help them [the Congress], let them try out their experiment.”

Recalling the reported statement of Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami that the implementation of the Commission’s recommendations could take up to four months in a State such as Karnataka, Mr. Gowda said though he had immense regard for the poll panel, he failed to understand why the process should take such a long time.

He also recalled that the State Governor, Rameshwar Thakur, had clearly stated that the elections would be held by May 28 since as per the Constitution, elections have to be held within six months after the imposition of the President’s Rule.

A senior Bharatiya Janata Party functionary said there could be no justification for extending the President’s Rule by using the delimitation process as an alibi. There was, he said, a clear provision in the law that if it was not possible for implementing the process completely before the scheduled time for an election, then the poll must be conducted under the existing profile of the constituencies.

He also noted that the Centre would not be able to extend the President’s rule since as per Article 356 of the Constitution, the President’s Rule could be imposed only if there was no law and order and there was a breakdown of the Constitutional machinery.

The Centre could not claim that such a condition existed there now, he said.

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