Chawla to be part of CD hearing, says EC

The Election Commission today rejected the BJP's demand that Election Commissioner Navin Chawla be kept out of the hearing in a derecognition case related to an anti-Muslim CD released by the party.

The full Bench of the commission held that mere pendency of a case against Chawla could not lead to bias, as alleged by the party. The Supreme Court will hear the complaint against Chawla for misconduct on May 8.

"The mere pendency of a case cannot ipso facto lead to conclusion of existence of bias or apprehension of the same," the Commission ruled and then proceeded with the hearing on the CD issue, which had led to demands for de-recognition of the BJP. The commission said it saw "no reason" to constitute a Bench of only two commissioners and instead decided that all three members would hear the matter.

In its two-page order, the EC said it had "carefully considered" the submissions of the BJP and the parties seeking its de-recognition.

The BJP contended that the party had petitioned the President with a memorandum signed by over 200 MPs for removal of Chawla on grounds of misconduct. It had also moved the Supreme Court in this regard, the party said, adding that when the Supreme Court was going into its petition, Chawla could not sit in judgement over them.

The Congress, the BSP, the CPI(M) and the VP Singh-led Jan Morcha also joined the proceedings.

BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley, who last year launched an attack on Chawla over a news report that he received funds from Congress politicians for a family trust, refused comment when the hearing adjourned for a break.

The Congress and the CPI(M) leaders, however, told reporters that they demanded a public apology from the BJP over the CD.

Congress leader Kapil Sibal said the BJP admitted during the hearing that the CD was uncalled for. "Therefore we demanded a public apology from the BJP. We also requested the Election Commission to issue interim directions to the BJP in order to strengthen democracy,"he said.