Attorney General’s clean chit to Navin Chawla is irrelevant since AG has no role in the matter
CEC alone can decide on the charges leveled against Chawla
One of the principal aims of the Bharat Suraksha Yatra is to alert the people of India on how the UPA government has been undermining our democratic system by misusing the various institutions of democracy.
A case in point is the UPA government’s decision to appoint Shri Navin Chawla, an officer with a highly questionable reputation, as member of the Election Commission. It is now becoming increasingly evident that all constitutional norms are being flouted with impunity by the UPA government to shield Shri Chawla, so that his services can be used for partisan purposes.
It is to be recalled that on March 16, 2006 a comprehensive memorandum was submitted to the President signed by 205 Members of Parliament to take action against Shri Chawala. The memorandum to the President presented well-documented information about not only his pro-Congress bias, but also his involvement in improper financial dealings. His close proximity to the Congress Party in general and to Shrimati Sonia Gandhi in particular is well known. Therefore, we affirmed that he was not expected to act in a free and fair manner and there was a very reasonable basis of bias in his conduct.
In the two trusts managed by him and his wife a huge amount of Rs. 95 lakhs has been donated by leading Congress members of Parliament from their MPLADS fund. Large plots of costly land, priced at crores of rupees, were given for a pittance to the trusts by the Congress governments in Delhi and Rajasthan (by former chief minister Shri Ashok Gehlot). His role during emergency of 1975-76 was also severely criticised by the Shah Commission for rampant excesses on innocent people.
The President forwarded the memorandum to the Prime Minister on March 20th. It is indeed curious that the Prime Minister is sitting over this even though he has no role at all because under Article 324(5) of the Constitution the President can take action against any Election Commissioner only upon the recommendation of the Chief Election Commissioner.
I am surprised that instead of sending the complaint immediately to the Chief Election Commissioner, the Prime Minister has reportedly taken the advice of the Attorney General. The matter is not of technicality, but of propriety. The past conduct of Shri Chawla cannot be divorced from his present status as a member of the Election Commission because he cannot be expected to act in an unbiased manner.
Now further evidence is coming as to how in the year 1994 he sought permission to establish a trust with him as a trusty but the same was turned down which fact has been confirmed by the then Minister of Personnel Smt. Margaret Alva in a television interview yesterday. Very surprisingly this file is now missing and in the year 1996 when he sought permission again (which in fact was granted) he did not mention the fact of earlier rejection. All this also shows the malafide intentions of Shri Chawala.
All these glaring pass misdeeds cannot be ignored in Shri Chawla’s appointment to the high constitutional office of the Election Commission. As an Election Commissioner, his questionable past can seriously impinge on his neutrality to act in a free and fair manner.
As per the Constitution, the authority to examine the allegations against Shri Chawla is the Chief Election Commissioner and he alone. Only his recommendation can be considered by the President. Dr. Manmohan Singh or his government has no role in this matter.
I therefore demand that the memorandum against Shri Chawla signed by 205 MPs and addressed to the President be sent to the Chief Election Commissioner immediately. The BJP strongly condemns this rank unconstitutional behaviour of the UPA government and would be constrained to approach the President again in this matter.
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