Oppn wants Central forces for UP Assembly polls

Lucknow, Nov 23: All opposition parties have urged the Election Commission (EC) to hold the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh under central police forces, with direct monitoring by the Commission.

The parties, however, said they are ready for the elections anytime. They also ''authorised'' the Chief Elctioon Commission (CEC) to fix the dates for the assembly polls. Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav has already written to the Election Commission, seeking polls in the state in February next year.

''Free and fair polls are not possible under the present Mulayam Singh Yadav government in the state as it was seen during the just concluded civic polls,'' was a common stand of the opposition parties during their meeting with Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy here today.

The Bahujan Samaj Party and Bharatiya Janata Party had demanded holding of the elections under President's rule but the Congress said the polls should be held on the ' Bihar Formula' in several phase under strict supervision of the EC and central forces.

Mr Gopalasway along with Deputy Election Commissioner R Balakrishnan held meeting with the representatives of eight recognised political parties in the view of the assembly polls.

The CEC wanted to know from the political parties as to when they thought the election should be held.

Rashtriya Lok Dal, an ally of the ruling Samajwadi Party government in the state, though supporting holding polls in February, suggested deployment of central forces during elections.

Meanwhile, SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, who met the CEC, said all allegations against the present government were ''baseless''. ''If government machinery was misused during the civic polls then how come Opposition candidates won so many seats,'' he quipped.

He said Congress president Sonia Gandhi also won the Rae Bareli Lok Sabhs bypoll with a landslide margin.

''Deployment of central forces during assembly polls is not a new thing and demand for it by the opposition parties only proves that they have nothing to say against the government,'' he said.

Criticising the opposition for demanding elections under president's rule, the SP leader and Rajya Sabha member said if elections in Gujarat after riots could be held under Modi government then why the demand for Central forces in UP.

Mr Yadav said he had also conveyed to the CEC that the opposition allegation that only Yadav community was being benefitted in the present regime was an attempt to malign the image of the state government as out of total 70 districts, only two were SPs and five DMs.

A delegation of the BJP led by party president Keshri Nath Tripathi and leader of the opposition in the assembly Lalji Tandon was the first to meet the CEC. The leaders demanding assembly polls to be held under President's rule said, no free and fair polls were possible under the Mulayam regime. ''We have no faith in UP police so only central forces should be used during the elections,'' they further demanded.

While claiming that BJP was ready for the polls, they said that the EC should take in consideration the Ardh Kumbh mela at Allahabad, Holi, Board exams before announcing the dates of the elections.

The BSP delegation led by legislature party leader Swami Prasad Maurya also supported the demand for imposition of President's rule.

They said that the elections should be held in seven phases under strict supervision of central forces. ''The party is ready for the polls anytime and it is upto the EC to decide the dates,'' they added.

Congress legislature party leader Pramod Tiwari, who led the Congress team, urged the CEC to hold the polls in the state on the pattern of Bihar.

They also explained to the CEC the ''harrassment'' of some officials who did not obey the dictats of the Samajwadi Party in the civic polls.

The CPI and CPI(M) raised the irregularities in the voters lists and demanded that the elections should be closely monitored by the EC as the present government would do anything to rig the polls. The CPI team was led by Ashok Mishra and CPI(M) by Vijay Sant.

The RLD delegation led for former minister Munna Singh Chauhan supported the government's view to hold the elections in February but under strict supervision of the EC. They also demanded that the election process should be shorter and Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) should not be made mandatory during the polls.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) also urged the CEC to hold elections under tight security arrangements.

However, during the meeting Mr N Gopalaswamy assured the representatives of all political parties that the Commission would consider their suggestions and apprehensions raised by them before announcing the poll dates.

Meanwhile, state chief secretary N C Bajpai, DGP Bua Singh and Principal Secretary(home) S K Agarwal met the CEC to discuss the state's preparedness of the elections.

The DGP has reportedly told the CEC that the law and order situation in the state was conducive for holding free and fair polls.

UNI