NEW DELHI: The Congress-I party Friday sought the intervention of President Ramaswamy Venkalaraman in getting the proposed elections in the turbulent northern Indian Border States of Punjab and Assam postponed and said it may have to boycott the polls if the election commission decided to go ahead with the exercise.
A five-member delegation of senior party leaders met the president at his residence and expressed the party’s reservations on having polls at this juncture when they could not be held in a free and fair manner.”
The delegation comprised P V Narasimha Rao Pranab Muhkerjee V N Gadgil Sontosh Mohan Dev and Hiteshwar Saikia.
According to Dev the president was told here was no justification for holding elections in the two states when parliament 1ad last month approved the extension of central rule there by another six months.
The delegation told the president that the situation was still “bad” in the two states and no party would be able to campaign freely without any intimidation.
In these circumstances a free and fair poll would not be possible it said.
The delegation also questioned the authority of a caretaker government to take a decision on holding elections in the states when only a month back parliament overwhelmingly agreed not to have elections.
Reacting to the center’s decision to hold the polls party spokesman V N Gadgil had said Thursday this would encourage the secessionist forces in the two states.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 19, 1991
