Given the nature of the allegations made by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) N Gopalaswami against Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, it is high time the system of appointments to this body was changed to bring in some transparency.
In this case, the BJP has alleged the Congress brought in Chawla since it felt it would be useful to have a sympathetic CEC at the time of general elections. But, if the BJP had been in power, it would probably have appointed a BJP sympathiser! One solution is to get a committee comprising the PM, the Leader of the Opposition and others like the Chief Justice of India to decide on these appointments. Another way is to adopt the US system of getting Parliament to ratify some top appointments.
If this body is allowed to become the victim of politics, India’s democracy will suffer a body blow. The government’s decision to ignore the CEC’s letter and to simply brazen it out is quite unfortunate.
Sanjay Singh, Noida