NEW DELHI, 2 March 2004 — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is gearing up for parliamentary elections by borrowing ideas from campaigns abroad, it was reported yesterday.
The party’s key planners said they have been inspired by the campaigns of former United States President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair when they ran for a second term, the Telegraph newspaper reported.
While Reagan asked Americans if they felt better after his four-year presidency, Blair thanked the electorate for voting for change in 1997. The BJP campaign will have a bit of both.
“We will show him (Vajpayee) as the tallest leader in the Indian polity who is backed by a wonderful team,” one official said.
The party has also drawn up a detailed list of do’s and don’ts for its campaign, which will focus on its achievements and not overtly criticize its political opponents.
There will be no uncalled for verbal attacks on leader of the main opposition Congress party Sonia Gandhi, but the BJP said it will question her ability to lead the country.
The party has in the past said her foreign origin — she is Italian — makes her unfit for the prime minister’s post.
While the BJP will highlight the government’s economic successes like GDP growth and increasing foreign exchange reserves, it will emphasize rural schemes like road connectivity programs and income insurance schemes for farmers.
A majority of India’s 675 million voters are from rural areas.
Parliamentary elections will be held in four phases on April 20 and 26, and May 5 and 10, Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishnamurthy announced Sunday.
This will also be the first completely electronic election in the world’s largest democracy, with the use of electronic voting machines in every constituency.
Vajpayee called for a dissolution of Parliament in early February to cash in on his government’s current domestic and economic success. His term was to end in October.
Meanwhile, “full publicity” will be given to dues from the candidates contesting the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections to the government. At present, while 656 sitting and former parliamentarians owe 111.8 million rupees to the MTNL for telephone services, 669 members of the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha owe 63.2 million rupees for water and electricity.
The Election Commission has been directed by Delhi High Court to publish the dues parliamentarians owe to the government in at least two local dailies. This “publicity” given by the Election Commission, in the form of advertisements, would be in addition to that given by the media, the Delhi High Court said.
The direction was given by a division bench of Chief Justice B.C. Patel and Justice B.D. Ahmed.
While giving the order, quoting a previous Supreme Court judgment, the bench said, “an informed voter is the foundation of democracy.”
Seeking recovery of millions of rupees owed by politicians and political parties to the government for telephone, water, electricity, transport and hotel charges, Krishak Bharat filed a public interest litigation in 1998. It was during the hearing of this petition that the Delhi High Court directed the Election Commission to give full publicity to arrears owed by members seeking to return to the Parliament.
In addition, the court issued notices to secretaries general of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha seeking explanation on why these arrears were not deducted from the salary, allowances and pension as permissible under the relevant rules.
While filing nomination papers, a candidate would not be required to obtain “no dues” certificates from the departments concerned and produce the same before the returning officers, the court said. They would, however, have to give a declaration/affidavit regarding arrears for facilities like water, electricity, accommodation, telephone and vehicles they availed of beyond the limits permissible under rules.
The day was also marked by the Congress stating that Sonia Gandhi would be the party’s candidate for the prime ministerial position. This was stated openly for the first time by the party spokesman yesterday. “Sonia Gandhi is the leader of the Congress. If we win a majority, you know who will be the prime minister,” Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal told a press conference in reply to a question on who would be the prime minister if the party secured majority in the Lok Sabha elections.
While there has been little doubt about Sonia Gandhi being the only choice of the Congress for the prime ministerial position, till yesterday the party evaded a direct reply to questions on this. Sonia Gandhi herself had earlier said that she was not in the prime ministerial race at the moment as the question would be answered as and when time demands.
Clarifying the party’s stand, Sibal also said that the question of who would be the prime minister of a Congress-led alliance would remain open if the party fell far short of majority on its own.
Till late, the anti-Congress electoral campaign of BJP also rested on the Congress being without a prime ministerial candidate. Now, with the Congress having made its position clear, the electoral pitch is ready for the much awaited battle between two leaders — Atal Behari Vajpayee against Sonia Gandhi.
Ojha to Contest Lok Sabha Poll on NDA Ticket
The ousted Bihar Director General of Police D.P. Ojha yesterday said that he would contest the coming Lok Sabha election from Begusarai in Bihar under the NDA banner to “end the corrupt and criminal-friendly RJD rule in Bihar.”
Ojha, who formally announced his political priorities after retiring from the Indian Police Service job on Sunday, told a public meeting that he would decide within a week which NDA party he would be joining.
After being sacked from the post of DGP in December Ojha had gone on leave and applied for premature retirement. His plea was okayed by the central government but not by the state government and on Sunday he finally retired from the job.
Making a scathing attack on the RJD, Ojha said that the state government by “giving patronage to criminals like Shahabuddin is very much responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation in the state”. He said that he was sacked when he recommended action against big criminal gangs active in the state.
Ojha said the right to recall elected representatives should be incorporated in the election laws so that “those who get elected by popular votes, but betray the mandate by indulging in corrupt and criminal practices could be removed by people”.
Meanwhile, the troublesome poll history of Bihar has made the Election Commission abide by the golden rule of writing exams — tackle the toughest questions first — if the election schedule announced on Sunday is any indication.
First phase of polling in 11 of the 40 constituencies, slated for April 20, would cover the Naxalite hotbed of central and south Bihar. The poll panel has handpicked the tough constituencies for this phase.
Sources in the state election office said the “heaviest” deployment of police and paramilitary forces would be necessary in this phase.
— Additional input from agencies
