It is now official. The Centre has dropped the plan to conduct early elections to the Parliament and the state assembly, as part of its plan to conduct simultaneous polls in all the states in October/November 2018.
This was declared by none other than union minister for urban development, information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday.
He said the general elections would be held as per the schedule in 2019 and there was no proposal to advance them.
Reports say the authorities at the Centre advised that it is not possible to hold simultaneous elections to both Parliament and the state assemblies all over the country in just one year, as it would require a lot of preparatory work and legal formalities, besides logistic arrangements. It could be done by 2024, they suggested.
So, the centre has decided not to advance elections for now. This must have given a breather to Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu for now, as he is struggling to implement his promises with limited resources.
His primary objective is to build Amaravati capital at least to some extent and complete the Polavaram project at least 70 per cent, so that he can go to the people with some confidence.
Since he has set 2018 end as the target to finish the task, early elections would have turned all his plans upside down.
Instead of Polavaram and Amaravati, Naidu would have to shift his focus to populist schemes to appease the people. Now that he has at least six months more time, he can change his plans accordingly.
