Raising strong objection to the suo moto recommendation by the Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami to remove election Commissioner Navin Chawla, the CPI(M) Polit Bureau on Sunday urged to reform the Commission.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) in a released statement said, ‘CEC’s recommendation is out of bounds and can only damage the institution of the Election Commission.’
Criticising both Congress and BJP for appointing their “pet bureaucrats” in the Commission, the Marxist party held them responsible for the deteriorating standard of the independent body.
‘The Election Commission plays a vital role in the constitutional scheme and in the parliamentary democratic system. And any suspicion that the members of this constitutional body are playing politics will harm the institution. Hence, the demand of the Chief Election Commissioner should be rejected,’ a CPI(M) Polit Bureau statement said.
The party had argued for urgent reforms in the Election Commission in 2006 which arose after the “bitter experience” of the manner in which the Commission had conducted elections to the West Bengal Assembly in May 2006.
One of the steps that needs to be taken is to bar former members of the Commission from taking up politically appointed positions or contesting elections, the statement added.
With this, the party Polit Bureau also urged all political parties and citizens to consider the reforms necessary to safeguard the institution of the Election Commission.
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