Controversy Inside ECI: Election Commissioner Lavasa Recuses Himself from Poll Body Meetings

A day before the last phase polling slated on May 19, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora termed the ongoing controversy inside Election Commission of India (ECI) as “unsavoury and avoidable”. This comes at a time when the poll body is being criticised for being “biased” in favour of the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).

Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa told the press that he has recused himself from attending ECI’s meetings on Model Code of conduct, as “minority decisions are going unreported”. During the elections, Lavasa had disputed the poll body’s decision to clear Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah of multiple charges of violating the Model Code of Conduct. But, Lavasa has claimed that the commission is not acknowledging the minority decisions in its final orders.

In response to Lavasa’s dissent, Arora stated: “The three members of ECI are not expected to be template or clones of each other. There have been so many times in the past when there has been a vast diversion of views as it can and should be. But the same largely remained within the confines of ECI after demission of office unless appearing much later in a book written by concerned ECs or CECs.”

Furthermore, his statement added: “It needs to be clarified categorically and unambiguously that this is purely an internal matter of ECI and as such any speculation, innuendous and insinuations in this regard should be eschewed. It also needs to be mentioned that a meeting had already been scheduled on Tuesday (21 May) to discuss this and related matters.”

Reportedly, in at least five cases, both Modi and Shah got clean chit owing to decisions by 2:1 majority.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on May 17 told media that ECI’s partiality towards BJP was visible. “I don’t feel good to say that the EC’s role was biased. It was as if Narendra Modi can say anything. Other leaders were punished for similar violations. The commission’s partiality was visible. Even the (election) schedule was designed to help Modi,” Gandhi said in a press conference. He added that one needs to repose faith in ECI as there is no other option.

On May 1, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury too had written a letter to ECI on the alleged misuse of election machinery by PM. Yechury questioned: “Is Shri Narendra Modi, a BJP candidate from Varanasi constituency in Uttar Pradesh and a star campaigner for the BJP, is needed to be treated differently from the enforcement of MCC for the simple reason that he happens to be the incumbent Prime Minister?” In his letter, Yechury argued that the ECI appears to be not only halting, but carrying on at a pace which is emboldening the perpetrators and exemplifies the notion of “delayed justice” amounting to its actual “denial”.

A few days back, in an unprecedented move, the ECI on May 15 put a blanket ban on political parties from campaigning in the nine parliamentary constituencies of West Bengal in view of the “growing incidents of disruption and violence”. This action was criticised by major regional stalwarts including Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and DMK Chief M K Stalin among others.

Political parties have also raised doubts when ECI transferred several police authorities in states such as Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, criticising the poll body for working in line with the interests of BJP.