NEW DELHI, December 13: Election Commissioner G V G Krishnamurthy has reportedly threatened to proceed on protest leave after "serious differences" with Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill over the question of summoning Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray.Krishnamurthy has reportedly cancelled his official trip to Orissa - to supervise poll arrangements - beginning tomorrow. When contacted late tonight, Krishnamurthy confirmed that he had scrapped his trip. However, when asked about his differences with Gill, he said: "I would rather not comment."Yesterday, Krishnamurthy sent a letter to Thackeray asking him to appear on December 24 to explain why he hadn't held organizational polls. "If you fail to appear," his letter said, "action will be taken without any further reference to you."However, Gill today, in Bhopal and Mumbai, seemed to take a different line.Saying there was no "threat" of derecognition in that letter, Gill told a news agency: "I am somewhat surprised that this quasi-judicial matter should form part of a press discussion." On whether Thackeray should be summoned, all that Gill said was that he expected the Sena to reply "honestly and accurately."It's this that has apparently irked Krishnamurthy. Sources close to him say that his decision to summon Thackeray is an "administrative one" and not a "quasi-judicial" matter. Moreover, once the letter was sent to Thackeray, he felt it fit to announce it, sources said.Sources said that Gill and Krishnamurthy haven't exactly been the best of friends. Another issue on which both differ is that of poll expenses.While Election Commissioner Krishnamurthy has publicly said that he wants the ceiling raised saying that the current limits are "impractical," the CEC Gill has supported the status quo.Joshi for avoiding row with ECMumbai: The Shiv Sena is likely to amend its constitution to provide for organisational elections within the party following the directives of the Election Commission. "It is true that there is no provision for holding organisational elections in our party. Yet, following directives of the Commission, we will have to make slight changes in our constitution. However, final decision will be taken by party chief Bal Thackeray," Joshi told a group of newsmen at Raj Bhavan today. Joshi hoped that the row will be resolved amicably and the directives of the EC will not land the alliance government or the Sena in crisis. "There will be no clash with the Election Commission," he remarked. Meanwhile, a senior official of the state election branch said the EC would not hesitate to derecognise the Shiv Sena if it failed to give a written commitment on holding organisational elections.He said under Article 327 and 329 of the Constitution of India, the Election Commission has inherent powers for holding free and fair elections. The Sena top brass is awaiting word from Thackeray himself to resolve the crisis as the EC has turned down the party's plea that Bal Thackeray be recognised as "president for life". Subash Desai, "secretary general" of the party, said: "It is too early to say anything about it. We will wait for a week to ten days before deciding on our reply. We have to consult Balasaheb." Thackeray has not been keeping well and the meeting may have to wait.Desai, in fact, is currently the only designated "executive" of the party, appointed by Thackeray. The Sena has no other office-bearers per se, although the Sena chief has designated 12 "leaders". These "leaders" include son Uddhav and nephew Raj, Chief Minister Manohar Joshi and virtually the entire Sena component of the Joshi cabinet. In order to settle the unrest in party ranks, a second rung of "deputy leaders" was also appointed by Thackeray during his Dassera rally this year. Then, there is the third rung of shakha or vibhag pramukhs (branch or division heads) who also hold office at the pleasure of the Sena chief. But all this is only by word of mouth. The party is now in dire need of a written constitution to formalise this structure and none of the Sena shakhas appears to have a single copy of a document which will help prove its recognition. Desai himself requested time till next week to procure a copy of the party constitution. And it does seem hard to come by a copy because a similar request for the document a few months ago also meet with the same response.According to Chhagan Bhujbal, leader of the opposition in the State Legislative Assembly who quit the Sena after 25 years to join the Congress in 1991, a single page document was printed in haste in the wake of the 1985 State Assembly elections to avoid derecognition by the EC. "The Sena was then under advise that if it did not declare its allegiance to socialism and secularism, it would have to face derecongnition," says Bhujbal. Though Thackeray was against the idea, a one-page document was printed to swear allegiance and it took care of the legal hitch in recognising the party.
