Governor K. Rosaiah’s recommendation to the Election Commission of India to conduct polls for Aravakurichi and Thanjavur constituencies preferably before June 1, has not gone down well with the ECI, resulting in a clash of opinions between the Constitutional bodies.
Giving its interpretation to various judgments of the apex court cited by the Governor in his recommendation to the EC, the Commission said Section 153 of the Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1951, does “not prescribe an outer limit for the completion of election.” It also termed the Governor’s reliance on the judgment in the Election Commission of India Vs. State of Haryana (AIR 1984 SC 1406) as “misplaced”.
The full Commission’s proceedings, signed by Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi and both Election Commissioners A.K. Joti and O.P. Rawat, referred to certain “settled law positions” and stated, “the Commission, is with due respect constrained to observe that the Governor should have avoided writing to the Commission..”
The ECI also contended neither the RPA nor any other law required that the Election Commission should consult the Governor before making any changes in the election calendar set by the Commission.
The Governor’s observation that he should have been consulted before making changes in the electoral calendar, the Commission said, “..seems to have been made overlooking the scheme of election process enacted in the Representation of People Act, 1951 and as explained by the Supreme Court in Mohinder Singh Gill Vs. Chief Election Commissioner and Others (AIR 1978 SC 851)..”
‘Extraneous consideration’
As for the Governor’s observation that postponement of polls in these two constituencies would deprive members-to-be elected to vote in the Rajya Sabha polls, the Commission said it was an “extraneous consideration” as members elected in polls that were not free and fair, “would not be true representatives of the electors of these constituencies.
Neither was any requirement under law that polls for the Upper House should be conducted only after filling all seats in the respective Assembly, it pointed out.
Meanwhile, former IAS officer M.G. Devasahayam, convener, Forum for Electoral Integrity, in a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, thanked him and expressed his compliments for rescinding the polls in these two constituencies.
“This is a great step towards restoring the integrity of elections and could serve as a warning to money bags throughout the country not to vitiate India's democracy through vulgar money power,” Mr. Devasahayam said in his letter.
