Indian archbishop seeks poll postponement in Kandhamal district

(April 4, 2009) The leader of the Catholic Church in eastern India’s Orissa state appealed to the Election Commission on Friday to postpone polls in the communal violence-hit Kandhamal district as he said the situation in the area is still very "tense and abnormal". Elections to India’s Lower House of Parliament as well as the State Assembly are scheduled to take place between 16 and 23 April. Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar has sent a letter to the Election Commission with copies to the president of India, the Supreme Court chief justice, the National Human Rights Commission, the national commissions for minorities, women, and the scheduled castes, and to the state election commissioner. Kandhamal witnessed large-scale violence against Christians after the murder of Hindu leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati on August 23 last year. Hindu radicals have falsely blamed Christians for the murder. At least 38 people were killed and thousands of Christians were driven out of their homes. Archbishop Cheenath pointed out that freedom of movement and speech in a peaceful environment, which are the basic requirements for a free and fair poll are absent in Kandhamal where communal holocaust has been continuing since the last week of August 2008. Archbishop Cheenath himself received death threats from alleged Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists for the killing of the Hindu seer.