EC reserves verdict on Chawla issue

Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy today indicated that the final date of the hearing will be announced by the Commission on April 17. Sources, however, said that “some sort of a decision is likely to be taken in the next two days and that it would be taken by Chawla himself.” The Commission can also take up the hearing on the CD only after the Chawla issue has been settled.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, who represented the BJP on the second consecutive day of the hearing today, made it clear that his party would continue to insist on a decision on Chawla before the CD case is heard.

Like Wednesday, the BJP once again focused on Chawla, while Kapil Sibal, appearing on behalf of the Congress, called the BJP stance “malafide”.

Sibal argued that the case of former CEC T N Seshan being barred from hearing the disqualification case against Jayalalithaa could not be compared to that of Chawla. There was no direct reason to presume that he would be “partisan or biased” in discharging his duties as an Election Commissioner, he said.

The BJP refused to relent and the Commission perforce gave an assurance that a decision on the matter would be taken by the next hearing, which was deferred by a week.

The decision to defer the hearing came as a relief to the BJP because the EC decision, if it goes against the party, is likely to affect its poll prospects in UP with the notification for the last phase of polling on Friday.

CPI(M)’s Nilotpal Basu and Sibal, after the hearing, said the EC had assured the political parties that it would immediately issue an order to seize and prevent the distribution of the CD.