CPI-M wants Kerala assembly polls in April

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - The ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Monday informed the visiting Deputy Election Commissioner Alok Shukla that it wanted the forthcoming Kerala assembly elections to be held in a single phase in April next year.

Elections should not happen during the months of February or March because parents and children would be busy with examinations. In todays world, elections have become a high pitched affair and it would be a problem for them. We have requested that it should be held as a single phase poll and in April, former Rajya Sabha member V.S. Vijayaraghavan told reporters.

The 2006 assembly polls were a three-phase process. V.S. Achuthanandan was sworn in chief minister May 18, 2006.

Meanwhile, state Congress president Ramesh Chennithala told reporters in Alappuzha that it appears that the Left government is scared to face the people at the polls.

We are prepared for the polls at any time. It is the Left who are scared to face the people. We are not going to suggest any time, Chennithala said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India (CPI)leaders asked for the polls be held in May and the former even suggested that there be a phased poll schedule.

What the Election Commission decides is unclear as close to one lakh state government employees, who constitute the backbone of the election machinery, are due to retire Mar 31, 2011.

–Indo Asian News Service