Senior Congress leader and former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has attacked the Election Commission of India (ECI) for not announcing the poll schedule to hold the Assembly polls in Gujarat.

A week back, the ECI announced the poll schedule for Himachal Pradesh but stopped short of revealing the dates for holding the Assembly polls in Gujarat, which is the native State of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had served as the State’s chief-minister for 13 years from 2001-2014 till he took over as the Prime Minister after the Lok Sabha polls held in May, 2014.

When newsmen queried about the Gujarat Assembly poll schedule, Chief Election Commission Achal Kumar Jyoti said that Assembly polls would be held in Gujarat by 18th December.  ECI’ silence in announcing the poll schedule has forced opposition parties including the Congress which said that there was something ‘more than which meets the eye’ in not announcing the poll schedule for Gujarat.

Penning his thoughts on his Twitter account, Chidambaram said “By not announcing a poll schedule to hold Assembly polls in Gujarat, the ECI has only given Prime Minister Modi extra-time to indulge in manipulative politics.  It now appears that the ECI would announce the Assembly poll schedule in Gujarat to enable the State Government get enough time announces all possible welfare schemes to get votes!”