NEW DELHI: Chief Election Commissioner Navin B. Chawla pooh-poohed BSP president and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s accusation that he and Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi were working at the “behest of the Congress” and said it was she who appreciated the Commission for conducting the Assembly elections in U.P. in 2007 in a fair manner.

Talking to journalists, Mr. Chawla recalled that Ms. Mayawati herself had come to the Commission’s office on a Sunday in 2007 and congratulated the EC for conducting free, fair and transparent elections in that State.

Ms. Mayawati, earlier in the day at a press conference in Lucknow, accused the EC of being “partial” and said that it seemed the EC had not taken kindly to a Dalit ki beti (daughter of a Dalit) being the Chief Minister. Like her political foes, the Commission too did not want her to become Prime Minister, she alleged.

Ms. Mayawati alleged that Mr. Chawla and Mr. Quraishi were part of the Congress coterie. She said free and fair elections could not take place as long as these two officials were in the EC.

Defending the action taken against Varun Gandhi, Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami said on Saturday that his controversial speeches in Pilibhit were virulent and "much more than" what was shown on the television.


Ahead of his demitting office on Monday, he said in interviews that the fact of the matter was a stronger message must go.


"We said file a case and all cases have been filed. So the virulence of the particular incident is such that we had to go beyond what normally we keep as our limit. So we went beyond and said something which I think is perfectly valid as far as I am concerned," he said.
Asked if the Commission studied the tapes, the CEC said "yes, we did see. It was much more than what was seen on television. We thoroughly saw the tapes and we are thoroughly convinced of what we did. We never felt the tapes which we got were doctored."

To a query about fixing the onus on Varun to prove the tapes were doctored, he said normally the escape route taken by people was that they did not say that or they were not there or the tapes were doctored.
"These are the only three alternatives presented. How do you accept this kind of a thing," he said.
Asked about criticism that the EC overstepped its limits by advising BJP not to nominate Varun in the elections, Gopalaswami said it was somewhat misplaced.
"The point is that there are some actions which are possible at your end legally speaking and if you (say) the Commission should not go beyond that even tender an advise what is the Commission for."

New Delhi: BJP Lok Sabha candidate Varun Gandhi on Friday filed his reply to the Election Commission's notice in connection with his alleged anti-Muslim speeches, three days after the poll panel issued notice to him.

Lawyers of 29-year-old Varun filed the reply on Friday morning to the notice served on him by the EC for making speeches that had communal overtones during his rallies in Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh.

His lawyers, however, refused to give details about the reply.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court on Friday granted interim bail to Varun Gandhi in a criminal case of making communal remarks in a speech during a rally at Pilibhit. In case of his arrest, he shall be immediately released on bail on the condition that he pays personal surety of Rs 50,000.

The order, passed by Justice Reva Khetrapal, will be applicable till March 27, the next date of hearing.

Appearing for Varun, senior advocate Sidharth Luthra said since Varun apprehended arrest in Delhi, he had come to the high court. His client required protection till his application was taken up by the Allahabad High Court for quashing the FIR in the coming week.

The public prosecutor contended that Delhi did not have any territorial jurisdiction -- the point the court will decide during the next date of hearing.

Meanwhile, the court has also issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh Government.

UP officials hand over hate speech CD to Varun Gandhi

Uttar Pradesh officials on Friday visited the residence of Varun Gandhi and handed over a copy of the CD containing his hate speech, three days after the Election Commission issued a notice to BJP and its candidate from Pilibhit for alleged violation of model code of conduct.

A two-member team headed by A K Mishra, a tehsildar rank officer of the UP Government, handed over the CD at the residence of Varun's mother and former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi here, where the BJP candidate stays.

The officials were accompanied by a team from Delhi Police, which did not enter the residential premises. The team was at Gandhi's residence for about half-an-hour.

"We have come here in connection with the CD case. We have handed over a copy of the CD," Mishra said.

Varun's office, when contacted, said the officials had come to hand over a CD to the BJP candidate, but refused to give any further details.

29-year-old Varun had moved the Delhi High Court on Thursday seeking anticipatory bail. Sources in the UP police said the onus of challenging the contents of the CD lay on Varun.

NEW DELHI: Spilling the beans on the tentative Lok Sabha poll schedule being worked upon by the Election Commission, Election Commissioner SY Quraishi said on Tuesday that the elections would be held between April 8 and May 15.

“We, in the Election Commission, have not yet discussed the final dates, but it will be held between April 8 and May 15,” Mr Quraishi was quoted as saying after delivering a lecture on ‘J&K elections 2008’ at the India House in London. The Indian High Commission to UK, Shiv Shanker Mukherjee, was present on the occasion.

Interestingly, the EC is not really known to let out poll dates beforehand lest it should give the government in power the unfair advantage of timing pre-poll sops just ahead of the announcement so as to beat the model code of conduct. Even ruling parties are sometimes caught unawares by the announcement of a poll: A typical case was the last Assembly poll in Himachal Pradesh, which the EC announced three months in advance, even as the then chief minister VB Singh went about his foreign tour and kept the pre-poll sops waiting until his return.

The commission, obviously not prepared for Mr Quraishi’s candidates regarding the EC’s planned poll time-table, was quick to clarify that nothing official had been announced just yet. An EC spokesperson said the full commission was yet to meet for finalising the poll dates and an authentic schedule would be available only after the three members had considered all factors influencing the poll timeline.

But going by the tentative dates spelt out by Mr Quraishi, it seems that the election commissioner may have spoken out of turn rather than coming up with an inaccurate poll schedule. A start on April 8 and culmination of the multi-phased polls on May 15 appears a very credible option, as March is ruled out due to examinations, which mostly end in the first week of April, the onset of monsoon in Kerala, Goa and the North-East and the summer heat would make June inconducive for polling. Given that the polls to Lok Sabha and Assemblies in the past were staggered over weeks, the 37-day schedule quoted by Mr Quraishi for simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Sikkim looks probable. The 2004 general election was spread over 3 weeks, starting on April 20 and ending with the fourth phase of polling on May 10.

During the lecture on Tuesday evening, Mr Quraishi dwelt upon the problems faced by EC in holding the polls in J&K.

He noted that the 61.5% turnout despite adverse weather conditions had only justified the commission’s decision to go ahead with the poll despite reservations expressed by major regional players like PDP.

“The Election Commission of India has the highest credibility,” he asserted, citing the example of fair and transparent polls in J&K. The general election in India is the largest electoral exercise in the world involving 671 million voters.

Noting that India is the only country in the world to introduce electronic voting machines on such a large-scale, the election commissioner said the system has ensured “secrecy of vote is not compromised.”

”Our experience is that while the party in power is almost invariably unhappy with us, opposition parties love us. But once the Opposition party becomes the ruling party the roles get reversed,” he said but added that both the ruling and opposition parties “realise, especially when they are no longer in power, how much they stand to benefit from EC’s interventions.”