NEW DELHI, 29 October — Elections to choose a new assembly in riot-shattered state of Gujarat, where over 1,000 people died in sectarian violence this year, will be held on Dec. 12, the Election Commission announced yesterday.
The commission finally decided to hold the polls after a "substantial number" of the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the violence were re-included in the electoral rolls, Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh told a news conference at his office here. The commission also announced tough security measures for the conduct of free and fair polls, saying it had sought 400 companies of security forces, or about 40,000 troopers, for deployment in Gujarat during what many believe would turn out to be the mother of all state elections.
This, Lyngdoh said, would "ensure that elections are conducted in the most conducive conditions so that the ‘little voter’, what ever his denomination or background, is free to vote". The elections are expected to see a bitter contest between the state’s ruling Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress party. Lyngdoh noted that 224,000 voters continued to be untraceable, but said there was "reason to believe most of them had shifted from Gujarat for economic reasons" and not due to the sectarian strife.
These voters would be provisionally included in the electoral rolls and efforts would be made to locate them. Poll officials in neighboring Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra had been roped in for this exercise following reports that some voters may have migrated to these states.
"If these reports are confirmed, we will have to make arrangements for them to vote in these states," Lyngdoh said. Some 176,000 voters displaced by the violence were traced during a special revision of the rolls in 152 constituencies across 23 districts. The counting of votes will take place on Dec. 15 and a new assembly will be constituted by Dec. 20.
According to the schedule, notification for the Gujarat polls will be issued on Nov. 18. The last date for filing nominations will be Nov. 25.
The nominations will be scrutinized on Nov. 26. The last date for withdrawal of candidates will be Nov. 28.
Polling in all 182 assembly constituencies will be done entirely on electronic voting machines and about 32.8 million voters will be eligible to exercise their franchise between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Dec. 12.
The Gujarat governor dissolved the state assembly on Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s recommendation on July 19, nearly eight months before the expiry of its term.
Modi called for early elections in a move widely seen as an attempt by the BJP to take advantage of communal polarization in the state following the sectarian violence.
But Lyngdoh, who visited the state in August, ruled that elections could not be held early as thousands of victims of the violence were still living in refugee camps. But yesterday, Lyngdoh noted that circumstances had changed in Gujarat and said the state authorities had promised to arrest miscreants and those named in complaints filed with the police "and do something about it". The commission will allow members of the diplomatic corps to visit Gujarat to witness the poll process without giving them any official status as observers.
The BJP and the Congress yesterday hailed the commission decision to hold elections on Dec. 12 and vowed to fight to win.
"Right from the day the assembly was dissolved we have been saying the people of Gujarat should be given a chance to choose a government of their liking," state BJP President Rajendrasinh Rana said. Gujarat Congress chief Shankarsinh Vaghela was equally euphoric. "We are ready for the elections. We have faith in the people that they will vote not for a "barbad" (ruined) Gujarat but for an "abad" (developed) Gujarat," he said.
Muslims too welcomed Lyngdoh’s announcement.
