1 Mar 2009
NEW DELHI: In a significant development, President Pratibha Patil on Sunday accepted the government recommendation for rejection of the Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami's report against Navin Chawla.
Government has rejected CEC N Gopalaswami's recommendation for removal of Navin Chawla as Election Commissioner, paving the way for his appointment to the key constitutional post.
The Election Commission is set to announce the dates for the Lok Sabha elections early next week. Sources said that the announcement could come as early as on Monday itself.
A Rashtrapati Bhawan communique on Sunday said President Pratibha Patil has accepted the government recommendation and arrived at a "considered opinion", reported PTI.
"The President, after careful consideration of the report of the CEC, the government's recommendation, constitutional provisions and the Supreme Court judgement, arrived at a considered opinion and has accepted the recommendation of the government," Rashtrapati Bhawan spokesperson Archana Dutta said.
Chawla, tipped to take over as the CEC after N Gopalaswami on April 20, had to go on leave because of a tear in the cartilage of knee. Sources said the election dates could be announced as early as Monday when Chawla returns to work.
A senior EC source said the commission is "more or less" ready with the dates. "They will be announced next week," he said, adding that it would be more than a four-phase election.
The announcement will put an end to the frenetic last-minute publicity blitz by the government, with ministries vying with each other to tom-tom the government's achievements at the exchequer's expense. If the dates are delayed beyond Monday, it will help the government continue with the large-scale campaign since the Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity, the government's publicity arm, has booked advertisements till March 6.
Meanwhile, cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar met CEC N Gopalaswami on Friday to seek clarifications on certain directives issued by the commission during the 2004 elections. "He wanted that lack of clarity be removed to avoid needless controversy during the election," the source said.
It is unlikely that the EC will accept a request by political parties that the phases in each state should be the same as they were during the assembly elections. EC sources said assembly and general elections need different treatment.
PTI reported that amid reports of differences between him and Chawla, Gopalaswami, who is to demit office on April 20, had in late January recommended the removal of the EC on a petition by the BJP which had accused him of "partisan" functioning.
The BJP had alleged that Chawla was close to the Congress.
The CEC's recommendation sparked a furore with BJP demanding Chawla's resignation but the Congress came out in defence of the EC saying he need not step down.
Adopting a combative approach in the face of the CEC recommendation, Chawla, the senior-most EC who was considered as the natural choice for the top post when Gopalaswami demits office in April, had dug in and said he was looking forward to conducting the general elections.
Within days Law Minister H R Bhardwaj too ticked off the Chief Election Commissioner for seeking removal of his colleague saying he is not the "political boss" and hinted at Chawla becoming the next CEC in April.
Bhardwaj said the government had a policy to have the senior most Election Commissioner as the CEC and "our policy continues to be the same."
Describing the controversy as "unfortunate", Bhardwaj had said it should not affect Chawla's career as appointments in the Election Commission are based on merit.
"We will begin the process to put in place a new CEC well in time" so that the name of Gopalaswami's successor is clear before he retires, Bhardwaj said.
The controversy had only brought to fore the differences among the three-member body which has often been marred by clashes over crucial decisions.
Only last year, Chawla had raised serious objections to the holding of the Karnataka assembly elections in May but was over ruled.
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