Ranchi, Oct 28 (IANS) The Jharkhand unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday alleged that Home Minister P. Chidambaram had prior information of the state assembly poll dates which were announced Oct 23, and demanded an inquiry into this.
“The union home minister arrived in Jharkhand Oct 21 and held meetings with the governor and government officials Oct 22,” Raghubar Das, state BJP president, told reporters here Wednesday.

“On Oct 22 evening, the central cabinet recommended dissolution of the state assembly and on Oct 23 the poll dates were announced,” Das added.

Das alleged that the central home minister knew of the poll dates and he advised Governor K. Sankaranarayanan to advance the Oct 22 and Oct 23 programmes.

The appointments of 973 doctors were scheduled for October 23, but were rescheduled to avoid the model code of conduct, Das alleged.

“The Election Commission should clarify whether the election dates were informed to Chidambaram or the poll schedules were leaked from the commission. We demand a high-level inquiry into the whole episode,” said the state BJP president.