Political parties feels there is no sign of early polls on the horizon, though the Union Government is all set to dissolve Jharkhand Assembly as no party could come forward to form a Government.
Given the circumstances, an extension of President’s Rule appears quite possible.
The tenure of President’s Rule in Jharkhand will end on July 18 and if the Election Commission (EC) wants to conduct Assembly polls before that, it will be left with very little time. EC needs at least 45 days to complete the process.
According to senior officials, fresh elections can be conducted only if EC initiates steps very soon. But this seems unlikely because work of electoral rolls revision has recently begun in the State and it is to be completed by the end of May, they added.
Even political parties are sceptical about the dates of elections. Although they claim to be ready , most feel elections will take place only after the monsoon, maybe in October or November, when a few other States are also going to polls.
“We obviously want elections before monsoon. We feel the situation has worsened in the proxy rule by the Congress. The conditions are very bad. But we have serious doubts over the intentions of the Congress — it may elongate President’s Rule and hold elections later, in October or November,” said JMM general secretary Vinod Pandey.
The BJP, which has been demanding dissolution of Assembly since the day of the fall of Government, is equally cynical of the moves of the Union Government. “We do not know why there was so much delay in taking this decision. The role of Raj Bhavan remains dubious. We hope elections take place in a specified time. But we still doubt the Congress. It wants to prolong the exercise and may shift poll dates to October,” said State BJP president Ravindra Rai.
The State Congress unit, however, doesn’t seem to be in a hurry. JPCC spokesperson Shailesh Sinha said the Assembly was still in a suspended animation, so there was no question of speculating on the timing of mid-term polls. “Unless the Assembly is formally dissolved, we will not contemplate any dates. Nevertheless, we are always ready for polls, whenever they take place,” Sinha said.