AHMEDABAD, Aug 17: The Congress party on Saturday demanded the imposition of federal rule in Gujarat after the election commission said free and fair elections were not possible there at the moment.

“We will go to the people of Gujarat and, if need be, to the president to demand imposition of president’s rule in the state,” Shankersinh Vaghela, leader of the Congress Party in Gujarat, said.

He said federal rule should be imposed immediately as the state government had lost any credibility for continuing after bloody sectarian riots earlier this year which killed more than 1,000 people, mainly Muslims.

“After the stinging slap by the election commission to the state government, the ruling BJP party has lost all moral authority for continuing to rule,” Vaghela added.

President’s rule is imposed infrequently and can only be ordered by the central government, usually when a state has a constitutional or political crisis.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi last month dissolved the state assembly and called for elections by the first week of October.

Political experts said such early elections were bound to favour the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP in Gujarat due to a polarization between Hindus and Muslims in the state after the communal riots, which were the worst in India for ten years.

On Friday the election commission said the law and order situation was still far from conducive for free elections in Gujarat, where the rioting also left tens of thousands of people homeless or jobless.

“The wounds of the communal divide following the riots have not yet healed,” it said.

“The slow progress in relief and rehabilitation on the one hand and non-arrest and non-punishment of the guilty and the fear of communal backlash on the other have hampered the process of restoration of normalcy to the state,” it said.

Previously, during a tour of Gujarat last week, Chief Election Commissioner James Lyngdoh rapped the administration for failing to quell the violence which erupted in February.

“You call this normal? You have the temerity to say so? Have you been to the relief camps? I suggest that you stay there for two days,” Lyngdoh shouted at Gujarat’s chief administrator, G.S. Subba Rao, during his trip.

On Friday the commission also attacked Modi’s government, which has been criticized by national human rights groups for turning a blind eye to attacks on Muslims.

The report said the independent commission would consider holding the elections later this year in November or December, but only after a fresh review of the regional situation.

India’s Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani squarely backed Gujarat Chief Minister Modi and indirectly hit out at the election commission.

“He (Modi) is an elected chief minister. India’s stature does not grow by attacking him,” Advani said at a meeting of the BJP in New Delhi.

“I know Gujarat. I am from Gujarat. They (the election commission) may announce elections there whenever they want, but we will win hands down,” he said to loud applause from party workers.

There had been speculation that the local BJP would challenge the commission’s decision in court, but they denied this.

“We accept the election commission’s decision and have no plans of going to court. The only court that we will go to is the people’s court,” said Rajendrasinh Rana, BJP’s chief in Gujarat.

“In a democratic setup every individual has the right to choose its own government at the earliest. Unfortunately, the election commission has denied the people of Gujarat to choose its own government at the earliest,” he added.

Rana reiterated that the delay in holding the state elections would not hamper his party’s chances of winning.—AFP