Election Commission appeals to keep away from expert committee

The Election Commission has appealed to the Supreme Court to keep it out of the proposed expert panel to deliberate on the legality of declaration of revdis (free gifts) by parties during elections. The Commission on Wednesday said, being a Constitutional body, it may not be appropriate to offer to be part of the Expert Committee. Especially if there are ministries and government bodies.

Appreciating the decision to set up the expert panel, the Commission said, "There are frequent elections in the country and the concept of equal opportunity in case of publicity of any opinion, idea or comment during deliberations in the multi-member body is affected." Will be In a written reply to a PIL filed by BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, the commission said, it welcomes the setting up of any such expert committee. He will be greatly benefited by the suggestion of the expert body in strengthening or modifying the existing guidelines in the interest of correctness of the election process.

The commission said that the impression is being created by the media through his oral remarks during the hearing that he is not serious on the issue. This caused irreparable damage to the reputation of the constitutional body. This does not bode well for a country that is relatively 'young' but has the largest and most stable democracy in the world. The Election Commission said, it had reiterated the limits imposed by the apex court in the S Subramaniam Balaji case. In the Balaji case, the Supreme Court had said that it cannot use its power to frame guidelines on the lines of giant judgments to regulate election manifestos and promises made there.