3. On the other hand, the Commission has received a very large number of representations from politicalparties (like, the Indian National Congress, the Samajwadi Party, CPI, CPI (M), NCP, JD (S), etc.,), eminentpolitical personages, including some former Prime Ministers of India, retired Chief Justices of different HighCourts, NGOs and other social and cultural organisations, urging upon the Commission not to hold the generalelection to the Gujarat Legislative Assembly immediately but to wait for some time until the people who wereaffected by the communal riots and violence and had to leave their hearths and homes in the aftermath of theGodhra incident on 27.2.2002 return to their houses with an assuring sense of security and safety. Theseparties and representationists are of the view that there is no constitutional compulsion on the part of theElection Commission to hold the election before the 6th October 2002, as they contend that the provisions ofArticle 174 (1) of the Constitution, which have been heavily relied upon by the Bharatiya Janata Party and itsallies, apply to an existing Assembly and have no application after an Assembly has been dissolved and it isnot obligatory that the new House to be constituted after the general election meets within six months of thelast sitting of the dissolved Assembly. Their further contention is that, in any event, the Constitution hasvested the superintendence, direction and control of elections to Parliament and State legislatures in theElection Commission and it is for the Election Commission to decide as to when a general election should beheld so as to ensure a fair and free election.