NEW DELHI, 10 March 2004 — The Lok Sabha elections will be held in five phases, instead of four as earlier announced.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told reporters after a Cabinet meeting yesterday that the government has recommended that the elections be held on April 20, 22, 26 and May 5 and 10.
The original dates proposed by the Commission were April 20, 26, May 5 and May 10.
Ms. Swaraj said the change accommodated a request by the government of northeastern Tripura state to hold elections on April 22.
Simultaneous state elections will be held in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in the south and Orissa and Sikkim in the northeast.
Votes will be counted on May 13.
This will be the first completely electronic election in the world’s largest democracy. India has an electorate of about 675 million.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has recognized the Sharad Pawar group as the real Nationalist Congress Party. It has also given his faction the “clock” symbol, leaving P.A. Sangma a disappointed man.
In its ruling, the commission said it was Pawar, and not Sangma who had greater support in the organization and legislature wings of the party.
“I feel sad for Sangma who relied on wrong advice,” said Pawar after the ruling.
Sangma, who parted ways with Pawar after the NCP aligned with Congress, called the commission’s ruling unfair. “This order has undoubtedly curbed our fundamental right,” Sangma said. And while Pawar has reason to be pleased, Sangma has to find a new identity for the North East Forum he leads. He says the NE Forum will be an NDA ally in the elections.
The NCP will field candidates in at least 30 constituencies in alliance with Congress and left parties, party general secretary Tariq Anwar said.
In the western Maharashtra state, where the party commands substantial following, the NCP will insist on contesting those seats where their candidates either won or came up runners-up in the last election, Anwar said.
In other election related development, movie star Jayaprada yesterday joined the Samajwadi Party in the presence of party President Mulayam Singh Yadav in Lucknow. SP is the first regional outfit to rope in a film personality ahead of the poll.
The party has now joined the ranks of national parties — the BJP and Congress — with several top Bombay film stars joining either of the two almost daily. On Monday, actor Manoj Kumar joined the BJP.
Although movie super star Amitabh Bachchan and his wife Jaya Bachchan are considered close to Yadav, the couple had ruled out contesting the elections this time.
Jayaprada, who was in the Telugu Desam Party, said she left TDP to join the SP after getting influenced by its “secular policies and the working style of Yadav.
