India's election chief has strongly criticised local officials in Gujarat state for playing down the scale of recent religious violence.

You call this normal? You have the temerity to say so?

JM Lyngdoh

Chief Election Commissioner JM Lyngdoh, who was visiting the riot-torn state to assess whether state elections can go ahead, expressed concern that officials in western Baroda district had been giving out the "wrong information".

Under India's system, the timing of elections can only be decided by the country's election commission.

His comments come as the country's president, Abdul Kalam, prepares to visit Gujarat on Monday to look at the progress of rehabilitation work for the victims of the rioting, most of them Muslim.

Violence, which erupted in the state in February after an attack on train carrying Hindu activists, left more than 1,000 people dead.

Angry comments

Reports said Mr Lyngdoh had severely censured the Gujarat's Chief Secretary G Subba Rao when he told him that the situation in the state was normal.

"You call this normal? You have the temerity to say so?", Mr Lyngdoh is quoted as saying.

"Have you been to the relief camps? I suggest that you stay there for two days", he is reported to have told the chief secretary.

The state's controversial chief minister, Narendra Modi, who was severely criticised for his handling of religious violence, dissolved the state assembly in July and called for fresh elections.

But India's opposition parties say a free and fair poll is not possible in an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty in which they say many Muslims of the state are still living.

'Back to normal'

Mr Lyngdoh is reported to been angry when Baroda's district collector remarked that communal violence in the area had been only sporadic.

Modi has been criticised for calling elections

"What kind of stories were you telling us?", Mr Lyngdoh told District Collector Bhagyesh Jha.

"You said only sporadic incidents. Sporadic incidents? You are jokers. All of you. Aren't you ashamed of yourselves", he told senior officials.

Baroda was among the cities worst affected by the communal rioting.

BJP strategy

Mr Modi, who still has the backing of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), insists that life in Gujarat has returned to normal.

He has also rejected allegations that his Hindu nationalist administration was complicit in the slaughter of Muslims following the train attack.

The BJP itself is preparing for the polls and held a meeting of its senior Gujarat leaders on Friday.

Civil-rights activists maintain that elections would be an insult to survivors, who are still waiting for compensation.

They also point out that thousands of people lost all their belongings, including their identity documents, in the violence and would therefore be unable to vote.

Analysts say by holding snap elections, Mr Modi and the BJP expect to return to power on a wave of Hindu support.