NEW DELHI: The focus of electioneering for the 1991 tenth Lok Sabha and Assembly polls may undergo a sea change following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi as the campaign gets under way after seven days of official mourning for the former prime minister.

While the non-Congress (I) parties are likely to withdraw poll material pertaining to Gandhi from circulation the Congress (I) may go all out to trigger a sympathy wave.

Reports from several centres indicate that non-Congress (I) parties will tread carefully to ensure that public sentiments outraged by the killing of the Congress-I president are not ruffled by the tenor of their campaign.

Parties in Kerala have already agreed that they would not give rise to any provocation while wooing the electorate.

Campaign material including audio and video cassettes that directly criticize the former prime minister are expected to go out of circulation with the parties drastically altering their strategy to woo the voters.

Although all non-Congress (I) parties have asserted that their poll prospects would not be adversely affected by Gandhi’s killing yet they are leaving nothing to chance and are busy preparing fresh election material to meet the changed circumstances

However former premier V.P.Singh Janata Dal which is the backbone of the national front alliance has announced that it will not change its election strategy as it was fighting the polls on Issues and not on the basis of personalities. The resumed pro Hindu Bharatiya.

Janata Party (BJP) campaign is expected to stress on the issue of stability and stress that BJP alone is capable of forming a government at centre that would last for five years.

But they are also faced with the problem of stretching their budgets to meet the needs of the campaign that was extended following the deferment of the second and third phase of elections from May 23 to June 12 & 15.

Electioneering started in Uttar Pradesh Wednesday but it is being conducted on a dull note. Parties and administration are preparing for the next phase of polls which will decide the electoral fortunes of among others Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar (Ballia) on June 15.

Article extracted from this publication >> June 7, 1991