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PM's nod for poll preparations

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is understood to have asked the Election Commission to go ahead with the preparations for the completion of the Lok Sabha elections as per schedule.

He has reportedly clarified at a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill and his colleagues G V G Krishnamurty and J M Lyngdoh in New Delhi today that the government had at no time favoured postponement of the elections.

The government is ''keen on having elections'', including in Jammu and Kashmir, ''as per schedule''. The prime minister's statement on Jammu and Kashmir is an ''expression of the government's resolve to vacate'' the Pakistani intruders from Kargil area.

On the question of convening a special session of the Rajya Sabha, Vajpayee is understood to have said that he had held a meeting of the Opposition parties where no consensus was reached on this demand.

He has called a meeting of chief ministers on July 7 where a consensus could emerge. He is understood to have said that the government has an open mind on this issue.

Earlier, setting at rest speculation about the postponement of elections due to the ongoing conflict in Kargil, the Election Commission announced that the Lok Sabha poll would be held on schedule.

UNI

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