New Delhi, Aug 16: The Sangh Parivar today charged
the Election Commission with adopting "double standards" while
deciding on the Gujarat polls and said its decision to
consider holding elections only in November-December has put a
"big question mark on its credibility."
"The Election Commission is adopting double standards on
Gujarat vis-a-vis Jammu and Kashmir," VHP spokesman Veereshwar
Dwivedi told a news agency.
"While the Commission has declared dates for elections in
Jammu and Kashmir where massacres like Kaluchak, Qasim Nagar
and Pahalgam are a regular feature, it has chosen to defer the
decision on Gujarat, which has returned to normalcy." Dwivedi
said.
"By not holding the polls (in Gujarat) now, the EC has
put a big question mark before its credibility," he said.
Asserting that the situation in Gujarat was conducive for
assembly elections, RSS spokesman Ram Madhav said, "this
decision is expected from the manner in which the chief
election commissioner conducted himself during his visit to
Gujarat."
He, however, said it was totally the commission's
prerogative to decide on the timing of elections.
Sangh Parivar outfits have been accused of indulging in
large-scale violence in the state following the Godhra
incident. Senior VHP leader Praveen Togadiya had recently
organised meetings of the party's cadres to campaign for Chief
Minister Narendra Modi's victory in the polls.
Bureau Report
