BJP wants Chawla to opt out of EC hearing on derecognition case

New Delhi, Apr 11 (UNI) In a new twist to the ongoing controversy surrounding the release of the CD, the BJP today objected to Mr Navin Chawla as an Election Commissioner hearing a quasi-judicial case on the petitions of four parties including Congress seeking derecognition of BJP as a political entity.

The BJP which maintained a silence about Mr Chawla even after they submitted a petition to the President signed by 205 MPs objected to Mr Chawla hearing the petition stating that it had enough reasons to suspect that the party will not get a fair deal. A case filed by Leader of the BJP group in Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh was before the Supreme Court, BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

The party had registered its reservation about Mr Chawla hearing the case through a fax communication. But when Mr Chawla persisted, BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley openly objected in the open Court especially when the other parties insisted on an Interim Order on their petition, BJP sources informed.

There are umpteen number of precedents in the EC itself where the Supreme Court has held that the suspicion about the fairness of the judge was raised by one of the contending parties in the dispute. To butress its claims sources quoted the example in which the Apex Court had held the contention of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha objecting to Mr Seshan hearing the petition against her filed by former Union Minister Subramanian Swamy seeking her disqualification as an MLA. She had apprehended that Mr Seshan may not get a fair trial as Dr Swamy's wife had been Mr Seshan's lawyer in the past and the single member EC was expanded with the inclusion of two more Members.

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