Election Commissioner OP Rawat removes himself from all AAP cases

NEW DELHI: In an unprecedented move, Election Commissioner OP Rawat has recused himself from all AAP-related cases pending with the Election Commission after Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal alleged in an interview that the two election commissioners are politically aligned.

Rawat is learnt to have conveyed to the CEC that this step is required to "uphold the public perception of the impartiality and objectivity of the Election Commission of India". Sources told ET that he has taken the decision to recuse so that Arvind Kejriwal "not only gets justice but they also perceive that EC has been fair beyond any shred of doubt".

Kejriwal has alleged that Rawat is close to Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan. The EC itself is also mulling a befitting response to Kejriwal’s strong allegations. CEC Dr Naseem Zaidi held a meeting on Wednesday on the issue.

The EC is presently examining cases pertaining to disqualification of 21 AAP MLAs due to alleged office of profit violations besides a clutch of other cases pertaining to the AAP.

Rawat, a 1977 batch IAS officer from MP cadre, retired in December 2013 to be reappointed as EC in 2015. He is also a recipient of PM’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration in 2010 for recognition of forest rights in Madhya Pradesh.

In an interview to a newspaper (The Times of India), Kejriwal indicated that he finds two of the three election commissioners biased. "There is a big question mark over EC. One of the election commissioners, A K Joti, was chief secretary of Gujarat under Modiji. The second election commissioner has come from Madhya Pradesh and has been very close to Shivraj Singh Chauhan. So, independence of both these election commissioners is under question," Kejriwal had said.