CECs winning like beauty queens: BJP on Lyngdoh

Locked in war of words with J M Lyngdoh over the polls in Gujarat last year, the BJP today tried to swim with the tide, praising the Chief Election Commissioner for bagging the Magasaysay award.

But hard as the party tried, it couldn’t resist a swipe: ‘‘Like our participants in beauty contests, our chief election commissioners too are dominating the scene.’’ BJP spokesman Prakash Jawadekar, when reached for his comments on the honour for Lyngdoh, said: ‘‘We are happy about it. It is our culture that if somebody is appreciated by the world, you join in appreciation. This does not mean that you endorse everything which goes with this appreciation. In fact, like our participants in beauty contests, our chief election commissioners too are dominating the scene.’’

‘‘The world marvels at our successful conduct of elections. T N Seshan was our first CEC to win award, now followed by Lyngdoh. The present CEC has inherited a very successful, tried and tested poll mechanism and he has built upon it. The award is a compliment to our democratic system. It has proved that our polls are neat and clean.’’