New Delhi, The Congress, the main constituent of the ruling United
Progressive Alliance, is weighing the option of going for general
election in November-December this year or in February next year.

Though party President Sonia Gandhi has not taken a final call in this
regard, many top leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
favour the November-December schedule.

If the elections are held on schedule, India must complete polls by April 2008.
The biggest factor for Gandhi in determining the timetable for the
election is inflation. As the inflation has shown signs of stabilizing
during the last few weeks, the party president and her managers are
now contemplating holding early elections.

After presenting a please-all general Budget in February, the Congress
was mainly waiting for the soaring rates of inflation to come down.
Many of the party managers, including Union Finance Minister P
Chidambaram, had conveyed to Gandhi that the season's bumper harvest
would help curb prices.

Food prices are under control and international crude prices too have
started to decline. These factors are giving renewed confidence to the
Congress brass to go for an early election.

However, while a section of the party favours advancing the Lok Sabha
elections to November or December, the allies, especially Rashtriya
Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is against the move.

As part of its strategy to keep options open for fixing an
advantageous election schedule, the Congress has also pushed back the
dates for the next session of the 14th Lok Sabha. A combined monsoon
and winter session of Parliament will be called between October 17 and
November 21. According to the rule, the gap between two Parliament
sessions cannot exceed six months. A normal monsoon session in
July-August would have forced the government to advance the general
election even before December.

The final authority to decide on the election dates is the Election
Commission and if it has its way, then the Lok Sabha polls would be
held in April-May. However, if the government wants to advance the
elections, the prime minister can dissolve the Lok Sabha and force the
EC to advance the polls.

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