It is time for all political parties to digest the fact that the forthcoming elections would be held as per the new delimitation. But what the parties are fiding difficult to digest is that the elections may be held in May, and not November.

With the election commission exploring all possibilities to hold the polls by May (after completing delimitation process), and parties are again switching back to the poll mode.

But the question is whether the parties, especially the BJP, the Congress and the JD(S), can brace themselves up for big political battle within two months’ time? Can they re-work their strategies as per the re-drawn political map of the State? Can they turn all disadvantages of delimitation into advantages within this time frame?
On record, all politicians say that they are ever ready to face elections. But in private they confess that getting ready for the polls is going to be a daunting task.

Re-drawing the constituency-wise strategy and selection of candidates are the common tasks all parties will face in coming days. “We have to work out caste combinations based on re-drawn constituency's voters’ profile. Many former MLAs may not prove to be potential, winning candidates and there will be pulls and pressures. They are not only tough, but time-consuming tasks,” leaders said.

What is the actual view these parties have on early elections? The BJP, undoubtedly, is most eager to have it at the earliest. It wants to reap the benefit of “sympathy” it claims to have. The JD(S) is of ‘delayed-the-better” view, while the Congress wants the polls to be postponed as far as possible. The Congress senior leaders are camping in Delhi from Wednesday to make Sonia Gandhi understand the practical problems of early poll.


WHAT THEY SAY?
We are ready for the poll in May. We have already toured 21 districts campaigning for elections. The process to select party candidates as per delimitation will be done quickly. Conducting elections is in the interest of people of the State and the party is not aiming at any thing political in this regard. It has been proved that the polls can be held by May after successful pilot project of delimitation in Mandya district in three days.
D V Sadananda Gowda, BJP State President

We are ready. We have already toured 19 districts. The party has done all preparations like printing publicity materials etc. The advantage for the party is that it can cash in on good work done by H D Kumaraswamy in 20 months. Mandya pilot project of delimitation has made it clear that delimitation is a simple process and it can be done quickly.
Y S V Datta, JD(S) spokesperson

We are ready whenever the polls are held. But for that the voters’ list should be valid and free of errors. Fair and free elections are possible only when voters’ list is clean. Moreover, over 50 per cent of voters do not have ID cards. Elections should be held only after completing all these process.
Siddaramaiah, Congress leader

Holding elections at the earliest is most important in the interest of the State. Installing a popular government at the earliest is the constitutional obligation. In the absence of an elected government, public suffer a lot. Because the bureaucracy hardly takes any public responsibility. Faster the elections are held, better for the people of the State.
Sandeep Shastri, political analyst