EC's poll spending in Gujarat at Rs 45 crore

The Election Commission will bear a cost of Rs 45 crore on holding elections to the 26 Parliamentary seats in Gujarat, polling for which will take place on April 20.

Election Commissioner N Gopalswamy said on Monday that he was satisfied with the arrangements made so far ahead of the general elections.

Gopalswamy said that although he has not seen a copy of the Supreme Court directions that were issued on Monday, he has learnt that the Election Commission will now have the powers to disqualify a candidate who passes unacceptable remarks while campaigning.

Gopalswamy met with delegations of political parties in the morning, after which he met the Superintendents of Police and district collectors.

Later in the afternoon, Gopalswamy also met the Director General of Police, the chief secretary and other officials to review the overall work done ahead of the elections.

Commenting on his meetings with political parties and the kinds of complaints generally made, Gopalswamy said: "There were representations regarding continuing of special polling booths that had been opened for the 2002 elections, the type of language used by some leaders and advertisements that have been appearing in newspapers."

He said that the 31 special polling booths that had been opened in the state during the December 2002 Assembly elections will continue.

"There were representations that since members of one community had to pass through areas dominated by another community, the special booths opened in the last elections must continue. We have agreed to this proposal," the EC said.

Among other complaints, delegations stated that despite a ban, hoarding on Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation buses continued to be put, Gram Sabhas were being attended by officials of the state government, pamphlets were being distributed in Saurashtra without a printline and political leaders were using language that cannot be accepted.

"Incidentally, although I have not seen the Supreme Court directions issued today, from what has appeared on TV, the EC will now have the power to disqualify a candidate who uses unacceptable language while campaigning," the EC said.

He stated that around 70 per cent of the eligible voters in Gujarat have been issued election identification cards, but it is much lesser than 70 per cent in some districts including Kutch, Surat and Jamnagar.

He, however, stated that there are other documents that will be considered valid in case voters do not have election cards.

There has been a 3.32 lakh increase in the number of voters as compared to the December 2002 Assembly elections while the number of polling stations remain the same.

Around 3,36,08,412 persons from Gujarat will be eligible to cast their vote in the forthcoming elections of which 1,73,04,764 are males and 1,63,03,648 are females.

Regarding complaints that copies of affidavits of candidates were not being made available, Gopalswamy said that the administration has been directed to provide a copy of the affidavit by paying Rs 10.

On whether the state government had sought more security forces, the EC said: "One cannot satisfy the demands of everyone, although adequate security personnel are being provided."

Referring to the demand made by Gujarat, he said: "They have asked for the moon. Everybody seems to be asking for too much security."

On a series of advertisements sponsored by corporates that have appeared in the print media, praising the state government for ensuring that the height of the Narmada dam can be raised to 110 metre, Gopalswamy said: "Until now they did not form part of action for the commission but with the SC directions today, we will need to re-examine what can be done."