CEC recommendation on Chawla not binding:Bhardwaj

Govt virtually rejected the recommendation of CEC N Gopalaswami for removal of his colleague Navin Chawla on Monday and hinted at making the Election Commissioner as the next CEC. Law Minister H R Bhardwaj said that the government had a policy to have the senior most Election Commissioner as the CEC and "our policy continues to be the same." Describing the present controversy as "unfortunate", Bhardwaj said it should not effect Chawla's career as appointments in the Election Commission are based on merit. "We will begin the process to put in place a new CEC well in time" so that the name of Gopalaswami's successor is clear before he retires on 20th April, Bhardwaj said. "Gopalaswami should do his work in EC and not become a political boss," he told a news agency on the sidelines of a conference in New Delhi. "It is rather unfortunate that when the country is preparing for general elections, such a controversy has been sparked off by him (CEC)," Bhardwaj said, clarifying that a suo motu recommendation by the CEC to the president for removal of a commissioner cannot be done. The CEC has caused "embarrassment" with his comment on his colleague because they (all election commissioners) are equals, he said. The Election Commission should be preparing the election rolls but it's unfortunate that he (CEC) has sparked off the controversy, he said.

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