New Delhi, Feb 07: Outgoing Chef Election Commissioner James Michael Lyngdoh today said that the elections in Jammu and Kashmir were a high watermark of his career as the country’s top electoral officer. Addressing a press conference in the capital, Lyngdoh, who retired as CEC today, said that the successful completion of free and fair polls in the troubled state was his biggest achievement.
In fact, the peaceful conduct of elections in J&K also earned him international praise and the coveted Magsaysay Award.
About Gujarat, he said that he felt moved by the plight of Best Bakery carnage victims when he had toured the state ahead of assembly polls. “But we did not have much time to look into the humanitarian aspects since we were busy making poll arrangements,” he quipped.
Lyngdoh turned controversial one year after his elevation as CEC in 2001 in the post-Godhra riots time when he refused to hold assembly polls in Gujarat. He held his ground that the situation in the state was not ripe for elections in the wake of communal violence and held the polls late in 2002, a decision that earned the ire of BJP and the Sangh Parivar.
Lyngdoh`s opposition to early polls in Gujarat saw the Centre making a Presidential reference to Supreme Court to decide on the issue. However, the apex court had upheld the EC`s stand on the matter, silencing his critics. “We were sure that the court would not go against us,” Lyndoh said.
Towards the end of his stay at Nirvachan Sadan, Lyngdoh got into problems with the political world when he described politicians as "cancer", which has no cure.
His colleague of more than three years, T S Krishnamurthy will succeed him as the CEC.
Bureau Report