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No bias in clean chits to Modi, Shah: CEC

New Delhi, May 29

Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora today rejected criticism that the poll body gave a clean chit to PM Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah on complaints related to model code violations due to its "bias", saying it was decided on merit and disapproved fellow Commissioner Ashok Lavasa raising the issue of dissent in the middle of the poll exercise.

Arora also said there are "times to remain quiet and times to speak up", indicating that the issue could have been raised post elections.

In an interview to PTI, the CEC said he is not a "moral judge of anybody, least of all somebody as senior as Lavasa". "Whatever may have been his misgivings or feelings, ultimately none of us can tell a lie to ourselves," Arora said, while noting that all members of the poll body are not supposed to be "photo copies" of each other.

Asked whether the controversy related to Lavasa's dissent was 'avoidable' during elections, Arora replied,"I did not start the controversy... I had said that eloquence of silence is always difficult but far more desirable to see the election process through instead of creating ill-timed controversies... and I stand by that." He also reiterated that all three members of EC are not expected to be template or clones of each other.

"Whether it is this EC or past ECs, people are not photocopies of each other. But there are times for everything, time to speak, time to remain quiet," he said.

Citing a legal opinion obtained by the Commission from its former legal adviser SK Mendiratta, Arora asserted the model code violation complaints do not fall in the category of quasi-judicial cases.

"It is the law. It is the law of the land. Cases related to symbols of parties and references received from the President and Governors are quasi judicial where both sides are represented by counsels.

"MCC by definition is short-lived. There is hardly any time for a proper quasi-judicial hearing," he said, adding that the opinions of the three — the CEC and the two fellow commissioners — are always noted on files. "When we formally communicate the decision, whether it is a 2:1 majority decision or unanimous, we don't write on that (order). UPSC too is a multi-member body. When they fail or pass a candidate, they just inform about the result but never mention about which member wrote what," Arora said to drive home his point.

Lavasa had dissented on a series of clean chits given by the EC to Modi and Shah concerning their speeches during the election campaign. After Lavasa's demand to record his dissent notes in the EC orders was not accepted, he had recused himself from cases relating to violations of the MCC.

In a strongly-worded letter to Arora on May 4, Lavasa is learnt to have said that he was being forced to stay away from the meetings of the full commission since minority decisions were not being recorded.

On May 21, the EC had rejected, with a majority vote, Lavasa's demand that dissent notes should be recorded in its orders on model code violations and decided that dissent notes and minority views would remain part of the records, but would not be part of its order.

On allegations by Opposition that the EC was biased in clearing cases related to the PM and Shah, Arora said, "If the clean chit was given, it was given on merit and on the appreciation of facts. I have nothing more to say on that." — PTI



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No bias in clean chits to Modi, Shah: CEC No bias in clean chits to Modi, Shah: CEC Reviewed by Online News Services on May 30, 2019 Rating: 5

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