Sonia Gandhi shifts focus to civic polls

PUDUCHERRY: National Advisory Council chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, has taken note of the issue regarding the non-appointment of the state election commissioner for the Union Territory, in order to hold the civic polls. The matter came to light when V A Vasudevaraju, a retired IAS officer, wrote to the NAC chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi informing her of the same.The latter promptly requested the Union home minister to “look into the matter for expeditious appropriate action.” It may be recalled that the tenure of the panchayats and the municipality in the Union Territory would be over by next month (July). The holding of civic elections is now mandatory after the 73rd and 74th amendments to the constitution, which came into force in June 1994.  But with the post of the state election commissioner remaining vacant for the past four years and seven months since February 19, 2007, it makes holding elections impossible. With Sonia’s intervention, the impasse would probably come to an end.