The Election Commission had sent a warning for “violating the model code of conduct” in Uttar Pradesh to the Union Law and Justice Minister Salman Khurshid.
That was just a tailor; Now Salman Khurshid has once again covered under a controversy with it.
There is a fight between the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) SY Quraishi and Union Law Minister. A letter has been sending to PM by the EC in which he complained against Mr. Khurshid’s comment.
Mr. Khurshid’s comment was of took the Commission under the administrative control of the Law Ministry. However in a letter CEC is writing to Prime Minister that Law Minister was undermining the authority of the Election Commission. Whether the fight is now personal as of now the Law Minister is sticking to his stand saying he did not violate the code of conduct but this latest revelation has now taken a bitter turn.
Describing the Minister’s comment as “wishful thinking”, a senior EC official stated, “This letter by Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi, which is drafted but yet to be sent, has nothing to do with the ongoing election process and we just wanted to stress the independence and autonomous stature of our constitutional body.”
Mr. Khurshid who was referring to Team Anna’s reservations about the Centre gaining some sort of control over the CBI under the new Lokpal Bill, reportedly said the Centre possessed some sort of administrative control over the EC and cited the example of the Law Ministry signing crucial documents when one of its Commissioners went abroad for a vacation.
Calling Mr. Khurshid’s thought of controlling the Commission through foreign tours as a sadly mistaken, the EC official said, “Law Ministry serves just like a post-office … only the President approves EC foreign tours.”
