State BJP President Ravindra Rai demanded on Thursday that the Assembly elections in Jharkhand should be held after imposing President’s Rule in the State. Rai, who also happens to be and Koderma MP, was speaking during Zero hour of Monsoon session of the Parliament on Wednesday. Chief Elections Commissioner VS Sampat during his visit to Ranchi on Monday hinted that the elections are likely to be conducted in the month of November keeping monsoon season and Chatth Puja into consideration.
“As it is evident in the last few months, situation of law and order in the state has gone out of control….. Schools in Khunti, merely 40 km from the state capital Ranchi are opened and closed on the directions of the rebel groups…under such circumstances free and fair elections could be held only after imposing President’s Rule in the state,” said Rai.
Similarly, other senior party leaders are also of the view that free and fair elections are not possible under the prevailing situation in the state. “Same situations are being created again as was done before the lok Sabha Elections…Right from block to the state level, officials are being reshuffled in order to bring more and more benefits to the ruling coalition during Vidhan Sabha elections,” said State BJP Vice President Deepak Prakash.
According to Prakash, there is nothing like government in the state as situation of law and order presently is at its worst in the state. “Even ministers under the coalition government do not trust each other, which is evident from the blame game being played here,” said Prakash. The only agenda left the coalition partners in the state is to mould the policies in order to lure the poor people and get more and more votes during the coming assembly elections, he added.
Unlike the ruling JMM and Congress that want elections to be held in November, the BJP demanded elections between Dushehra and Dipawali, if the Election Commission wants to avoid festive season, said Prakash.
Representing the party in the scheduled meeting with the team of ECI headed by CEC V S Sampat at Raj Bhavan in Ranchi, Prakash had urged CEC also to look into the Bangladeshi infiltrators getting enlisted illegally into the voter’s list.
Assembly elections in Jharkhand along with three other states of Haryana, Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir is due in November this year for which the
political parties have started pulling their socks up.