As the Election Commission announced the poll dates for Gujarat on Wednesday, the Congress and the BJP sparred again over the poll panel’s role.
Addressing a press conference here, Gujarat Congress chief Bharatsinh Solanki said, “The Election Commission should have announced the dates along with Himachal Pradesh but I think they came under pressure from the BJP. We think the EC [finally] announced the dates [for Gujarat] after they came under moral pressure.”
The BJP hit back with the barb that a constitutional authority cannot be “browbeaten by a losing political party.”
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley countered the Congress charges. “Just a few weeks ago, during the Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat, the Congress was singing the praises of the Election Commission. The Election Commission is not to be browbeaten by a party that is losing, it is bound to act as per law,” said Mr. Jaitley at a press conference in the BJP office.
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Congress general secretary for Gujarat, said “murmurs of the Election Commission coming under pressure of the PMO started ever since it acted independently during the Rajya Sabha elections in August.”
The Congress alleged that the 13-day gap between announcing Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat poll dates gave the Centre and the State government ample time to launch a RoRo ferry service at Dahej, announce GST exemption for the drip irrigation system that would help farmers.
Mr. Jaitley said that since polls in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat were being held a month apart, it was fair that the model code of conduct applied to Gujarat later.
