New Delhi: Non-revision in petrol and diesel prices despite a spurt in crude oil prices has caught the fancy of the Election Commission (EC) with the poll body asking the Oil Ministry to explain if the fuel prices were being artificially kept below cost to further electoral prospects.

Public sector oil firms, which have not revised petrol and diesel prices since December 31, had reportedly asked for a nod for raising petrol prices by Rs 3 per litre and diesel by Rs 5 per litre to cover the four USD per barrel increase in crude oil prices.

Elections 2004-The Drama unfolds...
Political Parties in India

The EC earlier this month asked the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas to explain why it was not following its declared policy of non-interference in prices in a decontrolled regime.

"We have replied to the Election Commission queries stating that fuel prices are no longer fixed by Government and it is the oil companies, which fix prices on a fortnightly basis," petroleum secretary B K Chaturvedi said.

Refuting the claim that oil companies were losing heavily on being forced to sell petrol and diesel below the cost, he said, "Their profits have surged by 50 per cent in the first nine months of 2003-04."

Indian Oil Corp, which controls 60 per cent of the retail market, has reported a jump of 31 per cent in its net profit to Rs 5154.88 crore in April-December 2003 over Rs 3915.24 crore in the same period previous fiscal.

Bharat Petroleum Corp's net profit jumped 59 per cent, from Rs 802.6 crore to Rs 1280.7 crore, while Hindustan Petroleum Corp profit was up 52.3 per cent to Rs 1376.09 crore.