.ccording to official sources, the CEC will hold detailed discussions with the officials of Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka, after reviewing the work done on delimitation. “His (Gopalaswami) opinion after the review is very crucial. Based on the outcome of the review, he will take a decision on the election dates,” sources added.
Gopalaswami, who will be accompanied by two other Commissioners Navin Chawla and S Y Quraishi, may also officially announce that delimitation work is underway.

As per Gopalaswami’s itinerary, he will be holding meetings with all political parties and deputy commissioners, who are also district electoral officers. During these meetings, he is scheduled to discuss about draft voters’ list of the State. He is also likely to decide whether to conduct electoral photo identity card campaign.

Plan is also on the cards to take up distribution of electoral photo identity cards to voters, if the delimitation exercise is completed well within one month.

Confusion
When will the democratically elected government assume office in the State?

A confusion seems to have arisen among various political parties and legal experts regarding the date by which the new House should be constituted, in case the President’s Rule is not extended.

It is debated that the new House in the State has to be constituted by May 28.

But according to senior counsel Prof Ravi Varma Kumar as per clause (4) of article 356, a Presidential “proclamation, so approved, shall unless revoked, cease to operate on the expiration of a period of six months from the date of issue of the proclamation”.

Going by the above clause, the new House should be constituted in the State before May 20 and not May 28 as debated because the Presidential proclamation was issued on November 20, 2007, Prof Varma opines. The Assembly was dissolved on November 28, 2007.

New CEO
Chief Secretary Sudhakar Rao on Thursday said he will take an appropriate decision on appointing new chief electoral officer after discussing it with CEC Gopalaswami on March 4, in the wake of Sobha Nambisan refusing to accept the new posting.

Speaking to reporters in Bangalore, he said Nambisan has declined to accept the post citing personal reasons. “We have received the order to appoint Nambisan as the CEO. But she has declined. I will take up the matter with the CEC on March 4 and take an appropriate action,” he added.

According to sources, Nambisan met Sudhakar Rao and appraised him about her inability to take up the new post.

Subir Hari Singh and Shivashilam are two other senior IAS officers recommended for the post along with Nambisan. “In all probability, the CEC may clear Shivashilam’s name,” sources said.