By IANS,
Chandigarh: Amid speculation that Haryana may go for early polls, Election Commissioner S.Y. Qureshi Friday said the poll panel had not received any such request and polls will be held at the scheduled time.
“So far, nobody has approached us for early elections in Haryana so there is no possibility of it. Normally we don’t cut short the life of an assembly term,” Qureshi told reporters here.
“It happens only when there is a situation of an emergency, like bad weather conditions, examinations or sowing season, but in Haryana there is no such emergency,” he added.
The assembly polls are due by February-March next year. But given the strong performance of the ruling Congress in the April-May Lok Sabha elections, speculation is that the government may prefer early polls.
“The Election Commission has the power to go for early polls when only six months are left (of the legislature’s term). So this can happen only after Sep 11 but till now there is no such planning,” stated Qureshi.
Qureshi was here to meet the state’s district commissioners and review the process of electoral rolls preparation.
“We have found that there are some anomalies in the electoral rolls but now we are trying to make things right before the elections,” said Qureshi.
As per the latest figures, total number of voters in Haryana is 12,087,743 — 6,589,293 male voters and 5,498,450 female voters.