NEW DELHI-: Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani, Thursday said that India’s chief election commissioner, T N Seshan, has lost “the confidence of the nation” by postponing elections in Punjab. Advani, who was addressing BJP workers from Punjab who are on a day-long demonstration here protesting postponing of elections in the state, said “from whichever angle one sees, the decision does not have a single positive aspect about it”
The BJP leader said his party would present a memorandum to president R Venkataraman on Friday demanding immediate elections in Punjab. The Punjab polls that were scheduled for June 27 were cancelled at the eleventh hour. Seshan had earlier gone on record with repeated statements that elections in Punjab would be held as scheduled.
Advani said he would not know whether Seshan consulted Prime Minister Napasimha Rao before postponing the elections.
Blaming the Congress (I) for the present problems in the state, Advani said the Congress-i al- ways viewed the situation in Punjab from its party interests and the present decision to postpone elections was a direct result of the narrow party politics.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 5, 1991
