New Delhi: Against the backdrop of Commissioner Ashok Lavasa recusing himself from model code violation cases till his dissents are recorded on orders, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Saturday said members of the panel are not supposed to be “clones” of each other and divergence of views was natural.
On a day Lavasa’s decision to recuse from model code of conduct complaints became public, the EC said the ‘full commission’ would meet on May 21 to discuss the issue of dissent and “related matters”.
Arora came out with a statement on the differences coming out in open, saying the episode was “unsavoury” and “avoidable”.
When contacted, Lavasa said the issue was an “internal matter” and he would like to offer no comment.
In his statement, Arora said that in the last meeting of the Commission, it was “unanimously” decided to form groups to deliberate the issues which arose in the course of conduct of Lok Sabha elections. The law governing poll panel’s functioning states that preference should be for a unanimous view, but provide for a majority ruling in the absence of unanimity.
In a strongly-worded letter to Arora on May 4, Lavasa is learnt to have said that he is being forced to stay away from the meetings of the full commission since minority decisions are not being recorded.
He had said his notes on the need for transparency have not been responded to so he has decided to stay away from model code related complaints. He is learnt to have written to the CEC on three occasions. (PTI)
