Date:31/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/31/stories/2008013160111300.htm

National

180 NDA MPs seek removal of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla

Neena Vyas

The petition details Chawla’s administrative record and conduct
It says he “leaked” information about Commission meetings

NEW DELHI: One hundred and eighty MPs of the National Democratic Alliance have signed a petition addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) asking him to recommend the “removal” of Navin Chawla as Election Commissioner.

The 17-page petition was submitted on Wednesday to CEC N. Gopalaswami by a delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Arun Jaitley, Ravi Shankar Prasad, V.K. Malhotra and S.S. Ahluwalia. The signatories include Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani, BJP president Rajnath Singh, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh and some representatives of NDA allies — Anant Geethe (Shiv Sena), Digvijay Singh (Janata Dal - United) and Braj Kishore Tripathi (Biju Janata Dal).

The petition argued that Article 324 (5) of the Constitution allows the CEC to be removed through an impeachment process as in the case of Supreme Court judges. However, an Election Commissioner can be removed by the President on the recommendation of the CEC. The petition said: “The second proviso to Article 324 (5) provides that any other Election Commissioner [other than the CEC] or a regional Commissioner shall not be removed from office except on the recommendation of the CEC. … In the matter of removal of the Election Commissioner, the second proviso to Article 324 (5) gives primacy to the CEC and his views. The condition precedent for removal of an Election Commissioner is only one, i.e., a recommendation to that effect by the CEC.”

Binding on President

The petition further argued that a “recommendation made by the CEC under the second proviso to Article 324 (5) of the Constitution is binding on the President.”

The petition details Mr. Chawla’s administrative record and conduct, beginning with the period of the Emergency, his “political relationship with Sanjay Gandhi,” his career graph during Congress rule, his alleged proximity to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and finally, the fact that he had accepted from Congress MPs, among MPs of other parties, donations for the Lala Chaman Lal Education Trust (before he was appointed Election Commissioner).

“Lack of detachment”

The petition also charged Mr. Chawla with “lack of political detachment” while casting an aspersion on his conduct as an Election Commissioner. Among other things, the petition said Mr. Chawla “leaked” information about what happened inside Commission meetings. “We have reason to believe that a discussion/decision [on allotting a name to K. Karunakaran’s new party when he split from the Congress] was leaked to the Congress party.” The charges also include “leaking” of election dates in Punjab before the formal announcement by the Commission.

Follow-up step

Releasing a copy of the petition to the media, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said this step was a follow-up of earlier attempts by the party to get Mr. Chawla removed from his job. A petition was sent to the President (at that time A.P.J. Abdul Kalam) asking him to refer the matter to the CEC, but the government did not forward the petition.

Later, BJP leader Jaswant Singh approached the Supreme Court where the government said it was not obliged to forward the petition to the CEC.

However, when the apex court asked the CEC for his opinion he had said he had the powers to recommend removal. It was, therefore, natural for the BJP to now petition the Chief Election Commissioner, Mr. Prasad added.