Four former Chief Election Commissioners had a conference call this morning. The call was apparently about the delay in the announcement of the poll dates. It is was widely believed that the EC would announce the dates on March 2.

All the four former CECs were critical about CEC V S Sampath and his team and they have proposed to issue a public statement that the Election Commission should quickly wake up and announce the schedule.

They believe that even a day's delay is "undemocratic" as the Election
Commission should not be subservient to the UPA or to the PMO.

Former CEC TN Seshan during his tenure used to issue threats of cancelling the polling or the counting date, if there was a delay in announcing results. Such tantrums would keep politicians on tenterhooks.

At an all-party meet on February 4, the Election Commission was asked to complete the process of polls before the onset of the full summer. Parties want the polling to end before May 15, but the EC has ignored it, pushing it to early June.

The former CECs believe the present EC team is so weak that they have to wait for Rahul Gandhi's anti-corruption ordinances to be promulgated, Union Cabinet meetings to take decisions, and the Prime Minster to return from Myanmar.