National   

Gopalaswami’s step “harmful,” says Brinda

KOLKATA: Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat on Sunday described Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami’s recommendation to remove Election Commissioner Navin Chawla as a “harmful step.”

“The Chief Election Commissioner has taken a harmful step just one and half months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections,” she said while addressing a rally organised by a zonal committee of the CPI(M).

Ms Karat said such a move was most unexpected from the Chief Election Commissioner, who would be retiring shortly.

“An impartial Election Commission is very necessary for the democratic process in the country. The Commission’s autonomy should be respected,” she said.

Ms. Karat criticised all the past governments at the Centre of using the Commission to serve their narrow political interests.

“It is most unfair to politicise such a body, which is supposed to work independently in the national interest,” she said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Pakistan has sent queries on dossier, says M.K. Narayanan
Constitutional experts criticise CEC’s decision
“Every time I hear crackers, I wince”
Internet kiosks soon in rural post offices: Scindia
Renuka sends official to probe pub attack
U.S. scientist sees use of resources on Moon in future
CPI(M) leader shot dead
Gopalaswami’s step “harmful,” says Brinda
CPI(M) plans mechanism to monitor members’ assets
‘Ambikatanayadatta Award’ conferred on Gangopadhyaya
Industrialisation cannot be at the expense of farmers, says Yechury
Crystal Award for Amitabh
Gesture to martyrs’ kin

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu