Patna: Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar questioned Sunday the long-drawn polling in intense heat conditions and suggested general elections should be held in two or three phases. He also said February-March or October-November would be the ideal weather condition for the polling in the country. Nitish is also against the gaps between voting days.
The Bihar Chief Minister stressed on a constitutional provision for the conduct of election at above-mentioned suitable time and said in the capacity of being supremo of JD(U) he will write a letter to his counterparts in other parties after completion of current process to reach a consensus over the issue.
Kumar, a strong ally of the BJP in Bihar, exuded confidence that Narendra Modi would return to power after counting of votes, May 23.
“Such a long-drawn election should not be held in such an intense heat conditions. This is not an appropriate time for holding elections. It must be either held in February-March or October-November in two to three phases in our country,” Kumar told reporters here after casting his vote at a polling station located at a government school near Raj Bhavan here. It falls under Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency where Congress candidate Shatrughan Sinha is locked in a close fight with Union Minister Ravishankar Prasad.
“There should be unanimity among people that there should be constitutional arrangement that whenever there is election, it should be held at aforementioned time (Feb-March or Oct-Nov) and should not be conducted in so many phases,” the Bihar CM asserted and added that there is no point having big gap between two phases of polling.