Jaswant Singh seeks removal of Naveen Chawla

New Delhi, May 19: Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the decision of President A P J Abdul Kalam of referring the petition filed by 205 NDA MPs seeking removal of Election Commissioner Naveen Chawla to the Union Government instead of the Chief Election Commissioner(CEC) of India as per Article 324(5) of the Constitution.

The BJP leader in his writ petition has challenged the validity of the action of the President who has not taken any decision on the complaint in view of the advice of the government and the Attorney General(AG) Milon K Banerjee to the effect that the complaint was not maintainable as allegations related to the time when Chawla was not the Election Commissioner.

The petition filed by Jaswant Singh is coming up for hearing on May 22.

The petitioner is seeking directions to the government of India to refer the complaint to the CEC.

The complainants have alleged that Chawla and his family members were closely associated with Congress party and a person with dubious antecedents like Chawla can not be expected to be person fit to be entrusted with the sacred task of ensuring free and fair elections.

According to the complainants, Naveen Chawla and his family members including his wife are the members of the trusts run and controlled by Congress leaders.

Chawla was the DDA vice chairman during emergency in 1975 and was a close associate of late Sanjay Gandhi.

The complainants have also alleged that the conduct of Chawla as EC has been partisan towards Congress.

Article 324 (5) of the Constitution is a mandatory provision and the decision on the complaints should be taken in accordance with law on the basis of CEC's advice and not on the advice of AG.

The complaint against Chawla was lodged by Jaswant Singh after getting it signed by 205 NDA MPs in April.

Another PIL seeking removal of Chawla is already pending in the apex court.

UNI