NEW DELHE: The Union Government still seems to be grappling for a suitable response to Chief Election Commissioner T.N.Seshan’s threat to stop all elections unless his complete jurisdiction over election officers is accepted.
The deadline set by T.N.Seshan for the Government to unequivocally accept this jurisdiction expires Commission desires to make it clear to the Government that it will not issue any reminder to this letter,” indicating that he is in no mood for a compromise or discussions on the issue.
He not only threatened “total stoppage of all work relating to preparation of electoral rolls and conduct of elections in any state or Union Territory,” but said that the be entirely due to the failure of the Government to work in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
Seshan made his threat on April 16, quoting the Constitution and parliamentary debates at length in support of his contention. The Law Ministry expressed its view on the matter in a letter to the Cabinet Secretary on April 24 who in turn referred it to the Prime Minister’s Office. But almost two weeks have elapsed without any response.
The CEC’s eight page letter threatening stoppage of the electoral process was in response 10 the Cabinet Secretary’s letter of April 19 reportedly issued with the approval of the PMO contending that the Election Commission was not within is rights to take action against officers on election duty.
The tussle started with Seshan wanting to take disciplinary action against two joint secretaries who had not reported for election duty.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 14, 1993
