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Journalism of Courage
Dubbing the “Election Commission” as “Election Omission”, the Congress Saturday said the erosion of institutional integrity was the hallmark of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government after reports emerged that Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa had recused himself from meetings on poll code violations.
“The Election Commission or Election Omission! Another Dark Day for Democracy. Sh Ashok Lavasa, Member CEC, who dissented on multiple occasions when EC was busy giving clean chits to Modi-Shah duo, opts out of EC as the ECI even refuse to record dissent notes,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.
Congress’ outburst came in the wake of reports that Lavasa has, since May 4, recused himself from EC meetings on violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) as his dissenting opinion in the three-member panel was not recorded.
In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, he reportedly insisted that he would attend the meetings only after dissent notes and minority decisions were included in the orders of the poll panel.
The three-member Election Commission consists of the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and two election commissioners – Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra.
Surjewala also accused the Modi government of destroying all institutions of the country and asked whether the EC would save itself from the embarrassment by recording Lavasa’s dissent notes.
“SC Judges going public, RBI Governor’s resigning, CBI Director getting removed, CVC giving vacuous reports, Now dividing Election Commission!” the Congress leader said.
The Indian Express was first to report that Lavasa had, on five occasions, opposed the clean chits given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah on charges of violating the MCC during campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections.
