LESSON 16
Election commissioners start poll preparations with Uttar Pradesh
Lucknow, March 4 (IANS) India’s three election commissioners arrivehere Wednesday evening to kickstart preparations for the general
elections, beginning with Uttar Pradesh that sends 80 members to the
Lok Sabha.
Soon after they land here, Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswamy,
accompanied by his two colleagues Navin Chawla and S.Y. Quraishi, will
meet representatives of all political parties.
This will be followed Thursday morning by a larger meeting with
senior officials of the state headed by the chief secretary and
director general of police. All top officials of the home department,
district magistrates, district police chiefs and other senior field
officials involved with the election process have been told to reach
Lucknow to participate in the meeting.
After another meeting with select officials, the election
commissioners will address a press conference Thursday afternoon, said
state chief election officer Anuj Kumar Bishnoi.
The commission’s top brass will leave for Patna on Friday morning.
While Uttar Pradesh will see elections over five phases from April 16
to May 13, Bihar will conduct its polls over four days.
Sources in the Election Commission said Uttar Pradesh, India’s most
populous state, was chosen as the first stop because the commissioners
were keen to see whether the electoral rolls were being updated. They
also want to see the progress made on the photo electoral cards, being
introduced for the first time this election.
BSP says would emerge largest party after polls
New Delhi:
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which had won 19 seats in the last Lok
Sabha elections, on Tuesday said it would emerge as the largest
party after the General Elections and would form the next government.
‘’We
are fast on completing the process of finalisation of our candidates in
Uttar Pradesh and other states, but irrespective of that the party
election work was going on a war footing,'’ a party spokesperson said
in New Delhi.
No alliance anywhere, whether in Uttar Pradesh or any other state, was going to affect the party’s vote bank, he said.
On
the efforts of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda to come up with the
Third Front again, he said it was not for the first time that such a
front was being floated.
‘’Whenever,
the elections come, such groupings appear and they disappear with the
same speed they are formed,'’ the spokesperson said.
Regarding
the poll tie-up between the BJP and the Rashtriya Lok Dal of Ajit
Singh, he said his party was not affected at all by any kind of
alliance between any parties in the state.
‘’Our
considered stand is that we will have no pre-poll alliance, and we are
confident of emerging the largest party ,'’ he said.
The
BSP had won 19 seats, all from Uttar Pradesh, in the last Lok Sabha
elections, securing 5.33 per cent votes. The party had contested 435
seats.
However, its arch rival in the state, Samajwadi Party had won 36 seats, securing only 4.32 per cent votes.
The BSP hopes that it would convert its higher vote percentage in greater number of seats in the coming elections.
Since
the last Lok Sabha elections, the BSP has also extended its base to
other states, including the national capital, as has been shown by the
results of the November Assembly elections.
When Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati launched an action plan to
win over the ulemas in 2008, her emissary, PWD and Irrigation Minister
Naseemuddin Siddiqui met the Maulana. Ms. Mayawati, was successful in roping in
the ulemas not associated with the Nadwat-ul Ulema.
BSP Fields Former Punjab Governor Against Sidhu For Amritsar
governor B.K.N. Chhibber as its candidate for the Amritsar Lok Sabha
seat, making him stand against ex-cricketer and current Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) MP Navjot Singh Sidhu. The BSP National General
Secretary, Narender Kashyap said that BSP will compete for all 13 Lok
Sabha seats in Punjab.
BSP’s late founder Kanshi Ram. Kashyap further told the media, “The BSP
is representing every section of society and is committed to providing
a better alternative to people of Punjab.” Ex-governor Chhibber, who
represents the Brahmin community, has joined the BSP recently.
exception of Gurdaspur constituency where a Rajput candidate will be
considered. The candidates are from different communities like Sikh,
Gujjar, Brahmin and backward class. Denying any tie up with the
Congress and BJP, Kashyap said, “People of our country want Mayawati to
become the next prime minister. We are sure to give the Congress and
BJP a tough contest in the forthcoming elections.”