Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Saturday, May 18, released a statement after media reports suggested that Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa recused himself from Election Commission (EC) meetings that determine the model code of conduct (MCC) violations since May 4, as his dissent notes were not being recorded in the final orders.
As per NDTV journalist Arvind Gunasekar, reacting to the controversy, Arora said in a statement, “The three members of the ECI are not expected to be templates or clones of each other.” Further, he pointed out that there were several instances in the past where Elections Commissioners had disagreements, but they didn’t voice out their opinion publicly till the time they were associated with the constitutional body.
The three members of ECI are not expected to be template or clones of each other.
Some groups to be formed to deliberate on the 13 issues which arose in the course of conduct of LS elections 2019: Sunil Arora, CEC pic.twitter.com/x77sP8DWlu— Arvind Gunasekar (@arvindgunasekar) May 18, 2019
Pointing fingers at Lavasa, the CEC said, “I pointed a few days back in another leading daily that eloquence of silence is always difficult but far more desirable which is far to see the election process through instead of creating ill-timed controversies.”
Also read: Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa Opts Out Of Meetings, Says Minority Decisions Not Being Recorded
As per Arora, in the last EC meeting, a decision was unanimously taken that “some groups shall be formed to deliberate the issues that arose in the course of conduct of Lok Sabha elections, 2019.” He added that the Model Code of Conduct was only one of the issues deliberated to the group.
NDTV‘s Arvind Gunasekar and Sreenivasan Jain reported that on May 4, Lavasa wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner saying, “I am being forced to stay away from the meetings of the full commission since minority decisions are not being recorded,” adding, “My participation in the deliberations of the Commission becomes meaningless since my minority decisions go unrecorded.”
A person familiar with the matter told Hindustan Times that since May 4, Lavasa had sent at least three letters to the chief election commissioner to include dissent notes in the final orders. He recused himself from the meetings where decisions about the MCC are taken, as per the daily.