The Arunachal Pradesh unit of the BJP has written a letter to the President of India registering their protest over the dissolution of the State Assembly last night after a recommendation by the State Cabinet.
The BJP has also sought the intervention of President of India Pranab Mukherjee over the matter. It may be mentioned here that Arunachal Pradesh Governor lt. Gen (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma had last night dissolved the Assembly following a recommendation by the State Cabinet. The Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Nabam Tuki last night recommended the dissolution of the Assembly demanding simultaneous State elections together with the lok Sabha polls. The Cabinet meeting justified that holding of State Assembly elections together with the lok Sabha polls would save the expenditure to the tune of Rs 70 crore.
According to the recent announcement of the Election Commission of India, the northeastern State is going to lok Sabha polls on April 9 and a notification in this regard would be issued on March 15. The Opposition parties of the Arunachal Pradesh including the BJP and Peoples Party of Arunachal Pradesh has also vehemently condemned the development late last night and termed it
as undemocratic and unconstitutional. “This is unfortunate and condemnable move and this is going to affect free and fair polls,” BJP leader and General Secretary of the Arunachal Pradesh unit of the BJP Tai Tagak said while adding that the Governor had taken only one sided view while dissolving the Assembly. “We have already sent a letter to the President of India seeking his intervention over the matter. A copy of the letter had also been sent to the Election Commission of India for consideration,” he said.
“Arunachal Pradesh already has communication bottlenecks. This is rainy season and holding polls in the season will be difficult due to communication bottlenecks. Besides, the political parties needs time to prepare for the State Assembly polls,” he said adding that the Congress led Government had taken the decision as they are scared after the recent rally of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Pasighat.
“Politics in Arunachal Pradesh have changed after the recent rally of Modi. There is also dissidence in the Congress here,” he said adding that by trying to hold the state elections simultaneously with lok Sabha polls they only want to sabotage free and fair polls in the State. President of the Peoples’ Party of Arunachal Pradesh (PPAP) Gumjum Haider also termed the development as the most undemocratic one and said that the party would not agree to the idea of having the Assembly polls together with the parliamentary polls.
“The Government is saying that the move would save the expenditure. However, if the state is in such a bas economical state, the government should have made it public,” Haider said while adding that his party is going to write it to the Election Commission of India. It may be mentioned here that Congress has 55 legislators in the 60-member Arunachal Pradesh assembly. While the BJP has three only MlAs in the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly, the PPAP has one legislator followed by one Independent legislator.