United Democratic Front (UDF) convener P.P. Thankachan has said that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government and the State Election Commission (SEC) will be the culprits if the local body elections in the State are postponed.
Inaugurating a study camp of the Seva Dal district committee here on Saturday, Mr. Thankachan said it was stipulated in the Panchayat Raj Act that new panchayat samithis should assume charge on October 2, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.
The alleged move by the government to postpone the elections was, in fact, equal to insulting the Father of the Nation, he said. Stating that it was the inefficiency on the part of the government that it could not complete the delimitation of wards and other poll pre-requisites in time, Mr. Thankachan said this coupled with the fact that the SEC had failed to apply necessary pressure on the government had thrown affairs in the State into chaos.
Accusing the SEC of playing to the tune of the LDF, Mr. Thankachan said both the LDF and the SEC would have to admit their failure if the polls were to be postponed.
‘Soft stance to BJP'
The UDF convener said the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), in order to weaken the Congress, was adopting a soft stance towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and fundamentalist organisations. By doing this, the CPI(M) was destroying the secularism and sovereignty of the nation.
