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When the Election Commission was reconstituted, a year ago, its prime mandate was to hold the general elections, which had been scheduled for January 22, 2007 and were eventually postponed following the declaration of a state of emergency on January 11, 2007 and the subsequent installation of the Fakhruddin Ahmed-led interim administration. Increasingly, however, the commission seems to be veering away from its prime mandate of holding the parliamentary polls and getting involved in assignments that may very well be undertaken after the general elections. While it unveiled an electoral roadmap amid much fanfare in July 2007, according to which the general elections will be held by the end of the year, it has thus far struggled to meet the deadlines it has set for itself. The dialogues with political parties over electoral reforms are stalled and, by implication, so are the electoral reforms themselves. Voter registration continues at a pace slower than expected. Overall, the commission’s foot-dragging vis-à-vis the general elections and sudden eagerness to hold local government elections could very well reinforce a growing suspicion in the public mind that it may have become party to a larger political scheme. Curiously still, initiating the process for local government elections does not fall within the jurisdiction of the commission even. It is the local government ministry that may request the commission to hold the elections to city corporations, municipalities, union parishads and what have you. As far as we know, the ministry has not made any such request so far. True, the commission’s plan for electoral reforms does envisage its empowerment to hold local government polls; however, no such law has been gazetted thus far. In other words, the commission seems to be assuming authority that is still not vested in it. Moreover, the commissioners are not speaking with the same voice. Prior to the meeting with the chief adviser on Monday, the chief election commissioner said the state of emergency was a barrier to creating a congenial atmosphere for holding local government elections, thereby dropping the hint that the commission would ask the government to lift the state of emergency. However, after the meeting, one of the commissioners, a retired army official, said the commission ‘has neither called for lifting nor easing the emergency rules.’ Such contradictory opinions within the commission could only add fuel to public misgivings about its intentions.
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