NEW DELHI, 17 August — India’s Election Commission rejected yesterday a proposal by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to hold early elections in the state of Gujarat, where more than 1,000 people died in riots earlier this year.
“The law and order situation in the state is still far from normal, the wounds of the communal divide following the riots have not yet healed,” the independent commission said in a statement rejecting the proposal. Over 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed in February and March in a wave of religious violence.
The BJP, which leads both the Indian federal coalition and the state government in Gujarat, dissolved the state assembly last month and sought elections, well ahead of the scheduled vote in March 2003.
Critics said the party was trying to exploit the deep religious divide in Gujarat.
The Election Commission said it would consider holding elections in November or December if the conditions were created for a free poll. Many survivors of the violence have stayed on in relief camps, too scared to return home.
“The people have lost confidence in the local police, civil administration and political executive,” the commission said. “In this environment, an election campaign evoking passions will only shatter the fragile peace,” the statement signed by Chief Election Commissioner J. M. Lyngdoh and two senior officials said.
The three top election officials, who in an unusual move toured Gujarat last week, said those responsible for the country’s worst sectarian violence in a decade must be brought to justice, and called for faster relief measures.
Human rights groups say official casualty figures are too low and insist about 2,500 people died in the violence in Gujarat. The BJP government was accused of turning a blind eye as Hindu mobs went on the rampage in a state where Muslims make up nine percent of the 50 million population. The BJP yesterday hinted at a legal challenge, saying the decision went against popular interests.
“The Election Commission has powers to decide the date of elections, but it cannot override specific constitutional provisions,” BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley said. The party said it saw no reason to delay the elections in Gujarat and said elections had been held in the country in the past in difficult circumstances.
“The party does not see any concrete reason behind the Election Commission’s decision to extend the election date in Gujarat,” said another BJP General-Secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.
He pointed to the elections in the bloodied state of Jammu and Kashmir scheduled for September and October, and said the situation in Gujarat was a “thousand times better”.
