Pranab meets Gill, seeks more time for holding party polls

A three-member delegation of the Congress led by former Union minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday called on Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill and requested him to grant the party some more time for the completion of its organisational elections.

The plea comes in the wake of the Election Commission's show-cause notice to the Congress asking why the party should not be 'virtually derecognised' for its failure to complete organisational elections before May 31 this year. The notice was issued on Monday.

Mukherjee told journalists that the delegation had ''good and cordial discussions'' with Gill. Informing the CEC that organisational elections were delayed mainly on account of the reconstitution of its 10 state units, the party sought time till June 15.

Gill, Mukherjee said, had asked the Congress to submit a formal request along with the revised election schedule. General secretaries Ghulam Nabi Azad and Oscar Fernandes were the other members of the delegation.

The Congress, Gill said later, has now promised to complete its organisational elections without further delay. Party leaders have also conveyed some other problems to the Commission which will give its view after all three members have discussed it.

Earlier in the day a Janata Dal delegation led by working president Sharad Yadav met Gill and pleaded for some more time for the completion of organisational elections. Yadav informed him that elections had already been completed in 20 of its 25 state units. The JD request will also be taken up at the Commission's next meeting.

The decision to serve a show-cause notice on the Congress was taken on Monday following a meeting between Gill and Election Commissioners G V G Krishnamurthy and J M Lyngdoh. Asking the Congress to reply by 5 pm on May 26, the commission said it would issue suitable orders if the party failed to respond by then.

The notice was issued under article 324 of the Constitution, section 29 A of the Representation of People Act, 1951, and 16A of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.

The nine-page notice stated the party had earlier assured the Commission through its letter dated September 27, 1996 that it would ''complete all stages of election in the party by March 31, 1997'' and also that no request would be made for further extension in this regard.

However, the party sought another extension, up to October 31, 1997, through its letter dated December 26, 1996, on the grounds of merger of the All India Indira Congress (Tiwari), the Karnataka Congress and the Madhya Pradesh Vikas Congress with th Congress, elections to the Punjab assembly and the serious flood situation in Andhra Pradesh, the order said.

The notice added, 'The Commission, after consideration of all relevant facts and circumstances, was unable to agree to the request of the party to extend the date to October 31 for the completion of its organisational elections, but again decided to extend the time limit for another two months from March 31, 1997 till June 1, 1997.

'The Congress by its letter dated May 2, 1997 has said it has decided to reschedule organisational elections at different levels.... The letter is more in the nature of an intimation to the commission about its decision to unilaterally postpone and reschedule its elections beyond the time allowed by the commission.

The Congress has neither asked for any extension beyond June 1, 1997, nor was it granted any such extensions by the Commission,' the order said.

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