Former CEC T N Seshan backs Rahul Gandhis views on Lokpal

Chennai, Aug 26: Amid the din over Lokpal issue, former CEC T N Seshan today backed Rahul Gandhi views upholding supremacy of the Constitution and Parliament over the proposed legislation.

He has also put forth his own version of the bill and handed it over to spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravishankar for its consideration by the government which, if it wanted, could introduce it tomorrow in Parliament, Seshan said.

"The supremacy of the Constitution and Parliament should be maintained for India to survive while dealing with the bill," the former Chief Election Commissioner told PTI here.

Agreeing with Gandhi that the Lokpal should be a constitutional body like the Election Commission, Seshan said he had prepared a draft Lokpal Bill which was sent sometime back to Sri Sri Ravishankar, who is among the mediators with Team Anna.

Seshan, credited with making the functioning of the three-member EC more effective when he headed it, said the majority of the Lokpal members "should be non-government officials" and their selection should "invite confidence."

"The members should be selected by a unanimous decision and there should be no voting on it," Seshan said, adding an impeachement process must be followed to remove these members, similar to the removal of the Supreme Court judges in order to maintain autonomy of the Lokpal institution.

"I have led a team of several people to work on this and have sent the paper to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. If the Government approves and there is agreement, they can introduce the Bill tomorrow morning," Seshan said, adding that the points raised by him in it were in line with what Gandhi said in Parliament today.

He also pointed out that nothing should be done which is not in accordance with the Constitution. MS SKC ALM SC

PTI