Speaker Rejects Congress’s Demand To Impeach State Election Commissioner
The Speaker, in his ruling, said that Patole’s demand was out of the scope of the state Vidhan Sabha and not in line with the recent Supreme Court judgment relating to the impeachment of a high court judge.
Mumbai: Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday turned down the demand made by senior Congress MLA Nana Patole to initiate the impeachment proceedings against the State Election Commissioner (SEC). Patole has accused the SEC of creating large-scale ‘chaos and irregularities’ in the recent local body elections in the state.
The Speaker, in his ruling, said that Patole’s demand was out of the scope of the state Vidhan Sabha and not in line with the recent Supreme Court judgment relating to the impeachment of a high court judge.
Patole accused the SEC of “strangling democracy in broad daylight” and claimed the confusion and distress among voters were due to the poll agency’s irresponsibility. Referring to Article 243 of the Constitution, he argued that if the irregularities are acknowledged, impeachment proceedings must be initiated.
The Congress leader argued that since the Chief Minister himself acknowledged the unprecedented nature of the irregularities, impeachment proceedings must be initiated under Article 243 of the Constitution.
He had earlier publicly challenged the ruling Mahayuti government to bring the motion, stating that if they failed to act, it would imply they were “shielding the SEC.”
Originally announced for 246 municipal councils and 42 municipal panchayats, the elections on December 2 were held in only 222 municipal councils; 154 wards in 76 municipal councils and municipal panchayats also witnessed the postponement of the election. Voting in these areas will now be held on December 20, and the results will be announced a day later.
CM Fadnavis had expressed displeasure over the SEC decision to postpone local body polls in some constituencies across the state till December 20. “I am unable to understand how they are interpreting rules to do this. I have spoken to several experts, including a lawyer, and so far, as I know, there is no provision to postpone polls a day before elections are scheduled,” he added.
The SEC’s decision to postpone the elections was also slammed by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, who had called the move ‘a calculated political manoeuvre.’
“The democratic process in Maharashtra has been thrown into disarray. The SEC has proven that its mind is not in the right place, and it does not possess the authority to postpone elections so suddenly,” the party had said.