New Delhi: Stepping up its campaign against Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, BJP on Wednesday sought his removal on grounds that he "lacks fairness and non-partisan approach" because of his "close proximity" to the Congress and its leadership.
A five-member delegation headed by BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitely met Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami and formally submitted a memorandum signed by 180 NDA MPs demanding Chawla's removal by the CEC exercising powers under the Constitution.
"The petitioner believes that on account of the background of having a close proximity with the Congress party and its leadership, Navin Chawla lacks fairness and non-partisan approach in dealing with political parties. The factum of his lack of fairness is best known only to the CEC and, therefore, his recommendation is only condition precedent for any action. This recommendation may be suo motu by the CEC or it may be on the basis of information available with the President or on basis of a complaint or petition filed by a third party," the petition said.
The BJP moving the Election Commission comes after its earlier attempts for Chawla's removal failed. First it approached the then President APJ Abdul Kalam with a similar petition, which the Government declined to forward to the CEC.
The party then followed it up by filing a petition in the Supreme Court where the Government took the stand that the Government was bound to forward it to the Commission, while the CEC maintained that if such a petition came before him he has powers to consider it. The Court then left it to the BJP to approach the CEC.
Jaitely said after their meeting with the CEC that they have submitted the petition as per the directions of the Supreme Court.
"We had submitted a similar petition to the President which was forwarded to the Prime Minister's office. They didn't take any action," he said.
Citing provisions under Article 324 (5) of the Constitution, the petition maintained that an Election Commissioner can be removed by the President on the recommendation of the CEC.
"In the matter of removal of the EC, the provision 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," the petition contended.
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To substantiate its demand, the petition questioned the conduct of Chawla as a bureaucrat before becoming Election Commissioner.
It alleged that he was part of the Emergency "tyranny" in Delhi during the mid-1970s and his career-graph "progressed" only when the Congress was in power at the Centre or in Delhi and "nosedived" if a non-Congress government was in power.
The petition also claimed that in political circles Chawla was perceived to be "extremely close" friend of Sonia Gandhi and her family.
The petition claimed that Chawla runs a trust in Jaipur to which contributions have come from Congress MPs due to his "close proximity" to Sonia.
The petition also alleged that after he became an Election Commissioner his conduct continued to suffer from "political partisanship".
It claimed that he dissented against the majority opinion in the Commission when it rejected allegations against Commission's advisor KJ Rao during polls in Bihar in 2005.
His stand favoured RJD and Congress which wanted Rao's removal.
The petition also alleged that Chawla had "leaked" information from meetings of the Commission to Congress party in matters relating to recognition to a party headed by Kerala leader K Karunakaran and poll dates in Punjab to the benefit of Congress.
The above are only illustrious incidents with regard to the partisan functioning of Navin Chawla and all other such incidents would be known to the CEC, both as the CEC as well as a member of the Election Commission," it said.
The petition said the CEC on the basis of information available to him was in a position to make a binding recommendation to the President for Chawla's removal and should take into account his conduct since May 2005 when he was appointed.
"In view of the facts stated herein above, it is prayed that the CEC may be pleased to make a recommendation to the President of India and under second proviso to Article 324 (5) of the Constitution for removal of Shri Navin Chawla as Election Commissioner on the basis of averments made in this petition as well as on such other grounds and information as may be available to the CEC in exercise of his suo motu powers," the petition said.
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