Comrades ask govt to reject CEC demand

NEW DELHI: The Left parties on Sunday asked the government to reject the Chief Election Commissioner���s demand for removal of election commissioner Navin Chawla saying any suspicion that members of the poll panel were playing politics will harm the institution.

Though the Left has slammed both the BJP and Congress for ���denegration��� of the independent body, its stand against removal of Mr Chawla would help the Congress. The BJP, which led a campaign in 2006 seeking Mr Chawla���s removal, has demanded that the President sack Mr Chawla. The saffron party said CEC N Gopalaswami���s recommendation was binding on the government. The Congress has said that it was not in the interest of any political party to cast aspersions on members of the commission.

���The suo motu recommendation by the CEC to remove one of the election commissioners, Navin Chawla, is out of bounds and can only damage the institution of the Election Commission,��� the CPM polit bureau said in a statement.

The party lashed out at the BJP and Congress saying the BJP and Congress ���while in power have had a narrow approach of putting in place their pet bureaucrats to man the commission which has led to the denegration of this independent body.���

The CPM also used the opportunity to recall its disappointment with the way elections were conducted to the West Bengal Assembly in May 2006. The CPI too was of the view that the time had come to examine the the appointment and removal, powers and functions of the poll panel by Parliament.