BJP threatens stir against 'clean chit' to Chawla

No case against the election commissioner, says the attorney-general's note

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has threatened a nationwide agitation against an alleged "clean chit" to Election Commissioner Naveen Chawla by the government.

According to top sources in the government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had sought legal opinion on a complaint against Chawla by the BJP. The BJP had accused Chawla of compromising his office by receiving donations from Congress MPs for two trusts, run by him and his family members.

In reply to the Prime Minister's query whether the complaint provided grounds for Chawla's removal, Attorney-General Milon Banerjee said Chawla was legally not liable since he had received donations after permission from the government and much before he became election commissioner, sources in the law ministry said.

The attorney-general's reply, apparently, reached the Prime Minister's Office two days ago.

Chawla had been accused to impropriety by the BJP for receiving donations, despite being a civil servant, from a particular political party. His proximity to the Gandhi family was shown as the reason why Congress MPs were generous towards trusts run by his family.

The BJP had filed the complaint with President APJ Abdul Kalam. Kalam, surprisingly, referred the matter to the Prime Minister instead of Chief Election Commissioner BB Tandon. But the chief election commissioner, too, spoke to Chawla to satisfy himself on the issue.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said the government move was a gross impropriety. "The least the Prime Minister could have done was to forward our complaint to the chief election commissioner. It is a complaint that needs to be investigated at the correct forum. The government can act at best like a post office," he said.

"We are taking a serious view of the matter. We will taking up the matter at national level soon," he said.

It was, in any case, not a matter to be looked into from a legal angle, but from an ethical or moral perspective, said Javadekar. "The Election Commission is expected to be objective and neutral. How can Chawla claim to be that," he added.

Chawla had tried to defend himself, when the issue had first broken out, saying that it was the National Democratic Alliance government that had given him permission to receive donations for the two trusts. "I was preparing for a retired life. I never planned on being made election commissioner," he said at that time.

For the BJP, the campaign to remove Chawla assumes urgency because Chawla could well be the chief election commissioner in time for the next General Elections, to be held in 2009.

An election commissioner's term has been fixed at five years and Chawla was appointed in 2005. Tandon is expected to retire in June this year.