NEW DELHI: The Janata DalBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Alliance appeared to be on the rocks in the western Indian state of Gujarat Monday as nearly 1,500 nominees entered the fray so far for the February 27 state assembly elections.

BJP Gujarat unit President Shankar Singh Waghela gave the ultimatum to the Janata Dal that if it did not decide on seat adjustments by Tuesday; his party would file nominations for all the 182 seats in the state.

The JD and BJP had an understanding on seat sharing in the general elections to the lower house of parliament in November last year. So far, as many as 168 nominations have been filed in the state for the forthcoming assembly election.

There appeared to be some confusion in the Dal camp in Orissa, on the country’s eastern coast, where the party changed its candidates in 60 seats. The Dal had announced candidates for 134 of the 147 assembly seats.

The BJP has also finalized its candidates for all the 320 seats in Madhya Pradesh and is waiting for the conclusion of the talks between the two parties on electoral understanding to announce them.

The road to electoral understanding in Rajasthan also does not appear to be smooth for the two allies, who have however, arrived at seat adjustments in Himachal Pradesh.

Differences persist between them in Bibar also.

Earlier on the third day of filing the nominations, the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh continued to head the rally with about 350 nominations. 132 candidates had filed their papers in Bihar and over 80 in Rajasthan, in the west.

Arunachal Pradesh (in the north-east) Orissa, Maharashtra (in the west), Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh (in the north) and the union territory of Pondicherry, in the south, are also going to polls on February 27. The electoral process concerns over 215 million voters.

Earlier, on February 12 Manipur, in the north east, will hold its assembly elections. In all voters will make their choice of candidates for 1,679 seats in nine states and one union territory next month.

Article extracted from this publication >> February 9, 1990