GoM skips discussion on model code of conduct

NEW DELHI: Under fire from the Opposition, the high-powered group of ministers on corruption, which met here on Wednesday, skipped a discussion on the proposal to clip the Election Commission’s wings by according statutory status to the model code of conduct.

The GoM, headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, approved the draft Public Procurement Bill, which seeks to regulate government purchase by installing a transparent bidding process. But there was no mention of any plans to tinker with the model code, an issue, which it later said, was only a media creation.

“Suggestions on electoral reforms will come before the GOM,’’ argued minister of state for personnel V Narayanasamy, but taking away EC’s executive powers was, he insisted, not on the terms of reference of the group. “Hence the question of it being discussed today does not arise... it is a media creation,’’ he said. The government has been caught off-guard on the controversial proposal.

Notwithstanding the denial issued a day earlier by the department of personnel and training (DoPT), which had dismissed newspaper reports on the plans to chip away at the poll panel’s executive powers as “totally misconceived”, the fact remains that the agenda note drafted for Wednesday’s GoM meeting did contain such a proposal.

The government, however, continued to remain in the denial mode on Wednesday.