Indian Elections
Modi to campaign for BJP in UP
HC asks EC to cancel polls where criminals are in fray
AFP, New Delhi
With exit polls showing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party faring worse than expected in India's marathon parliamentary vote, the party has pressed firebrand Hindu nationalist leader Narendra Modi into campaigning. Modi, chief minister of western Gujarat state which was wracked by communal violence between Hindus and Muslims in 2002, will campaign in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh from Sunday, a BJP official said. "Yes, he is coming here. We will take a decision (later) on the constituencies where he will be campaigning," Hridaynarayan Dixit, the BJP's Uttar Pradesh spokesman, told AFP. Modi has a huge following among Hindu hardliners and was seen as a key figure in helping the BJP win crucial state elections last year, including in Gujarat. His government has been accused of turning a blind eye to the riots in his state in which nearly 2,000 people died, mostly Muslims. Political analysts said they were surprised at the BJP's decision to field Modi as its leaders have been trying to court Muslims, who make up 20 percent of Uttar Pradesh's population. "He will probably be used very strategically in specific political constitutencies. It is a daring move to think that you can woo the Muslims and at the same time get Modi to campaign," said political expert Yogendra Radav. "It is a new political morality and a sign that spin doctoring is entering India. I don't know whether it will be rewarding," he added. The Hindustan Times newspaper said that the move was aimed at unifying the majority Hindu population's vote for the BJP, while at the same time fielding more moderate leaders, such as Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, to reach out to Muslims. With Uttar Pradesh boasting 80 political constituencies, the BJP has thrown its entire top rung of leadership into the campaign trail in the state ahead of the two remaining rounds of polls on May 5 and 10. PTI adds: The Patna High Court yesterday asked the Election Commission to consider countermanding the elections to the constituencies where the prisoners, whose voting right have been suspended under the election laws, had entered the fray. A division bench passed the order on a PIL seeking disqualification of those who entered the poll fray from jail and whose voting rights were automatically suspended by the law.
| 
