Gowda criticises functioning of EC

Bangalore, Nov 30 (UNI) Janata Dal(Secular) President H D Deve Gowda today took exception to the Election Commission's role vis-a-vis the December four Chamundeswari Assembly bypoll and accused the Election Observer of ''blatantly working'' in favour of the Congress.

Speaking to newspersons here, he said he was disturbed by certain developments in the recent past in which the impartiality and credibility of the constitutional body was in question. He referred to the role of Navin Chawla as the Election Commissioner in the West Bengal Assembly elections and said the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and other Left parties had levelled allegations against the actions of the EC. The Bharatiya Janata Party had even referred to the close links between Mr Chawla and the Congress, he noted.

Mr Gowda said the role of the EC in the run up to the byelection in Chamundeswari too did not add to the glory or credibility of the EC. He was shocked at the 'cavalier' manner in which they had been dealing with the coalition Government. It was 'totally unprecedented and unheard of' on the part of the EC to seek a report on the developmental works in the constituency even before the election notification was issued.

He observed that the EC had displayed unprecedented swiftness in issuing showcause notice to Social Welfare Minister Balachandra Jarkiholi on a statement attributed to him. Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy too had clarified that he had not announced any new scheme in the constituency after the model code of conduct came into force, he pointed out.

Mr Gowda sarcastically said that going by the skewed logic of the EC, the reduction in petroleum prices by the Congress-led Government at the Centre yesterday too was a blatant violation of the model code of conduct. ''I wish to know what action the EC proposes to take against the Congress in this regard,'' he asked.

''The EC should not be perceived as becoming an instrument of vendetta in the hands of the powers that be at the Centre,'' he said, fearing that any erosion in its standard would lead to imposition of 'draconian emergency' once more by the Congress.

UNI SR GD HVB1825