Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajwadi Party withdrew from the Supreme Court their petitions seeking the dismissal of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla.
NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday withdrew from the Supreme Court their petitions seeking the dismissal of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla.
The significant development occurred a day after Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) N. Gopalaswami told the apex court in an affidavit that he was constitutionally empowered to initiate action against a fellow election commissioner, a stand strongly contested by the central government.
The bench of Justices Ashok Bhan and V.S. Sirpurkar allowed withdrawal of the petitions, noting that at this juncture it was not deciding whether the CEC had the power to act against fellow election commissioners on his own or on the basis of a complaint made to him.
The judges, however, said the CEC would be free to adjudicate a petition against fellow election commissioners as per provisions of the law.
The bench had asked the Election Commission counsel to file an affidavit detailing the CEC's stand following an oral submission last week that the official was of the view that he was constitutionally empowered to initiate suo motu action or act on a complaint against a fellow election commissioner.
While asking the EC counsel to file an affidavit, the bench had observed that if that was the stand of the CEC, there was no need for it to adjudicate the petitions against Chawla.
Gopalaswami Monday subsequently filed his affidavit before the bench saying that the constitution empowers him to initiate action against anybody, including the two election commissioners, to maintain neutrality and impartiality of the election process and the poll panel.
Gopalaswami, in his affidavit to the bench, also justified the stand of his predecessor B.B. Tandon that he could not act on the petition for removal of Chawla filed by the NDA MPs because it was addressed to the president.
Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam, however, strongly contested the CEC's stand and said: "The Union of India contests the stand taken by the CEC in his affidavit filed before court and reiterates that it is the executive government alone which is empowered to initiate proceedings against the Election Commissioner."
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