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SC will hear EC's plea over opinion polls tomorrow

The Union government today questioned before the Supreme Court some of the poll-related guidelines of the Election Commission, asserting that they do not have statutory backing.

''How could the EC infringe upon the fundamental rights of freedom of speech and expression of a citizen under the garb of these guidelines,'' attorney-general Soli J Sorabjee asked when an interlocutory application by the commission came up for hearing before a three-judge bench headed by Justice S B Majumdar.

The other members of the bench were Justices M B Shah and U C Banerjee.

The hearing on the application was, however, adjourned till tomorrow, when additional solicitor-general C S Vaidyanathan opposed its hearing today on the ground that the Union government had neither been issued notice nor served with a copy of the application. The court therefore adjourned the hearing till tomorrow.

The application sought directions to the Centre and others to enforce the commission's guidelines dated January 20, 1998, and August 20, 1999, banning opinion polls and exit polls between 0700 hrs of September 5 and 1700 hrs on October 3.

The application was filed in a pending writ petition in the case of R Rajgopal vs Union of India and another raising the same issue. ''Heavens will not fall if the application is heard tomorrow. The powers of the commission have to be construed comprehensively. The guidelines do not have the statutory backing. The Canadian Supreme Court has struck down similar guidelines'' the attorney- general said, adding he filed an extract of that judgment for the guidance of the court.

Justice Banerjee intervened to say that Article 103 and 192 of the Constitution read with Section 8a of the Representation of Peoples Act 1952 cast an obligation on the head of the state to adhere to the commission's recommendations.

''The larger issue is whether the EC's guidelines could be in conflict with freedom of information'', the attorney-general pointed out.

The court also issued notice to Jain TV returnable by 1400 hrs today when commission's counsel Harish Salve drew the attention of the court to a report that the proposed telecast of a detailed exit poll by the private TV channel scheduled for this evening would flout the commission's guidelines.

UNI

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