Rift in Election Commission over clean chit to Modi widens

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Rift in Election Commission over clean chit to Modi widens

Lavasa said that he is forced to stay away from the meetings of the Full Commission since "minority decisions" were not being recorded

Saturday May 18, 2019 11:51 PM, ummid.com & Agencies

[The three-member "Full Commission" consists of Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and two Election Commissioners, Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra.]

New Delhi: The rift between Election Commission of India Saturday widened further when the contents of a letter addressed to Chief Election Commissiner Sunil Arora by Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa was leaked and widely circulated in the media.

In the letter Lavasa informed the Chief Election Commissioner Arora that he will stay away from the meetings related to the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) due to his dissent on the clean chit given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah, sources said.

Lavasa said that he is forced to stay away from the meetings of the Full Commission since "minority decisions" were not being recorded.

He has recused himself from all meetings on MCC issues from the first week of this month.

Lavasa, in his letter, insisted that he would attend the meetings if his minority decisions were also included in the orders of the Commission.

Sources said that Lavasa has expressed his dissent on clean chit to four speeches of PM Modi and one speech of Amit Shah.

The rift in the Election Commission of India became public just a day before the polling in the 7th and final phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Congress and other opposition parties have accused the Election Commission of being biased.

'Not Clones'

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora on the other hand denied any controversy in the internal functioning of the Election Commission over the handling of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) saying that "the three members of the Commission are not expected to be templates or clones of each other".

"There has been an unsavoury and avoidable controversy reported in sections of the media today about the internal functioning of Election Commission of India with respect to the handling of the Model Code of Conduct", said a statement issued by the CEC.

"This has come at a time when all the CEOs (Chief Election Officers) and their teams across the country are geared towards the seventh and last phase of polling tomorrow followed by the gigantic task of counting on May 23,"it added.

"The three members of the ECI are not expected to be templates or clones of each other. There have been so many times in the past when there has been a vast diversion of views as it can and should be," said the statement.

The CEC also said that an Election Commission (EC) meeting was scheduled on Tuesday to "discuss this and related matters".

The three-member "Full Commission" consists of Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and two Election Commissioners, Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra.

'Election Commission or Omission'

The Congress attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa's letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora regarding his dissent in EC decisions related to the model code of conduct (MCC) going unrecorded and asked whether it was "Election Commission or Election Omission".

Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said, "Lavasa, one of the three members of the Central Election Commission (CEC), who dissented on multiple occasions when the Election Commission was busy, giving clean chits to the Modi-Shah duo, opts out of EC meetings, as the ECI even refused to record his dissent notes."

Calling it "a daylight murder of constitutional norms, set conventions and propriety", Surjewala said the poll panel's rules express preference for the unanimous view, but provide for a majority ruling in the absence of unanimity.

"Being a constitutional body, the minority view has to be recorded, but this is being trampled to protect Modi-Shah duo," the Congress leader said.

According to him, frustrated by the political pressure on the EC, Lavasa added he might consider taking recourse to other measures aimed at restoring the lawful functioning of the poll panel. "This speaks volumes about the political pressure being exerted by the Modi government on the Election Commission," he said.

"As per the Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991, if the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners differ in opinion on any matter, such matters are decided according to the opinion of the majority," the Congress leader said.

"The EC transacts its business by holding regular meetings and also by circulation of papers. All Election Commissioners have equal say in the decision making of the EC," he said.

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