President Pratibha Patil rejected chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami’s recommendation to remove Navin Chawla as election commissioner.
President Pratibha Patil on Sunday rejected chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami’s recommendation to remove Navin Chawla as election commissioner.
The president’s decision paves the way for Chawla to take over as the CEC after Gopalaswami retires on April 20.
The government had made clear that the CEC was not empowered to seek the removal of an election commissioner without a presidential reference being first made to him. Gopalaswami’s action was criticised by legal luminaries though the BJP had backed him. Chawla has been accused of being partial to Congress.
“The president, after careful consideration of the report of the CEC, government recommendations, constitutional provisions, and Supreme Court judgments, has arrived at a considered opinion and accepted the recommendation of the government (rejecting CEC’s suggestion),” Archana Dutta, officer on special duty in Rashtrapati Bhawan, said in a communique.
The BJP has been consistently questioning Chawla’s integrity. In March 2006, it submitted a memorandum signed by 204 MPs to president APJ Abdul Kalam, challenging Chawla’s appointment. Now that Chawla appears likely to succeed Gopalaswami, the party has raised doubts again. “When elections are round the corner, the commission should be non-partisan since people expect the exercise to be free and fair,” Naqvi said.
But the BJP is isolated on the issue. Even the left parties, which fell out acrimoniously with the Congress last July, welcomed the president’s decision. “The president has taken the correct decision,” CPI(M) politburo member MK Pandhe said. “The CEC’s recommendation was a political (one).”
The government will have to name a successor to Chawla in the three-member Election Commission. The other member is former IAS officer SY Quraishi.
The Election Commission is likely to meet on Monday to decide the schedule for the Lok Sabha election. If the schedule is announced in the next couple of days, Chawla may preside over most, if not all, phases of the election.
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