NDA wants EC Naveen Chawla sacked

Reviving the Naveen Chawla controversy, the NDA leaders today submitted a memorandum signed by 205 of its MPs to President APJ Abdul Kalam demanding the immediate removal of the election commissioner for his alleged links with the ruling Congress party.

Chawla had been accused of receiving donations to two charitable NGOs run by him and his wife Rupika Chawla from various Congress MPs from the latter's Members of Parliament Local Area Development fund (MPLADs).

The NDA leaders alleged that this proved Chawla's links with the ruling party and as such raised questions over his ability to perform his job with objectivity.

"The election commission must be absolutely impartial. It must also appear to be impartial," the memorandum signed by 205 members from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha said demanding Chawla's removal under various constitutional provisions.

"We expect that the president will discuss the issue with the chief election commissioner and make a decision on the basis of the discussions," leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha LK Advani told reporters after the 30-minute long meeting.

NDA convener George Fernandes, SAD leader SS Dhindsa besides BJP president Rajnath Singh and senior leaders Sushma Swaraj and VK Malhotra were among those who met Kalam.

In fact, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) BB Tandon had earlier said that if a petition was brought before him then he would give the matter due thought, but not before that.

Chawla himself had defended his accepting donations saying that he had the requisite permission from the then NDA government to do so. He added that he had no idea that he would be made election commissioner and that it would in no way compromise his ability to do his job. He said that some BJP MPs had also offered him donations.

The NDA had let the issue lie dormant for a while before reviving it again today. The alliance's leaders said that it was the availability of the MPs for signatures that led to the delay.

"Since all of them are here for the Parliament session, we got all signatures," said a senior leader.