PMO denies EC expansion

NEW DELHI, NOV 22: The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) tonight denied that the government was considering any proposal to expand the Electi...

NEW DELHI, NOV 22: The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) tonight denied that the government was considering any proposal to expand the Election Commission (EC) to a five-member body.

"There is no proposal before the government to expand the Election Commission to a five-member body," a spokesman for the PMO said.

He maintained that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had not made any such remark during his brief interaction with journalists after the swearing-in ceremony of the four new ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening.Earlier, agency reports had quoted the Prime Minister stating that the government proposed to expand the Election Commission to a five-member body."Yes, it will be a five-member body and it will be done soon", Vajpayee told reporters after the swearing-in ceremony in response to a question whether the government was considering raising the strength of EC from three members to five.

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The EC headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) M S Gill at present has one vacancy followingthe retirement of Election Commissioner G V G Krishnamurty.

Gill has reportedly disfavoured an expanded commission maintaining that such a step would not be in the interest of democracy.

According to reports, Gill felt that in a three-member commission the CEC shared one-third power along with the other two commissioners and that was the correct lawful position.