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EC's Gujarat order against the Constitution: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday lashed out against the Election Commission's order on Gujarat, contending that it was a misinterpretation of constitutional provisions.

"The BJP is of the opinion that the order of the EC disregards the primacy of the constitutional mandate of Article 174," party spokesperson Arun Jaitley told reporters in New Delhi.

"The order states that it is acting under Article 324, but in doing so it [the commission] is unable to comply with the mandate of Article 174. Its order under Article 324 is an executive order. The powers under Article 324 can never be exercised in derogation of a statutory provision," he pointed out.

Jaitley said, "Those whose orders tie up constitutional knots must have the statesmanship to untie them."

He added that the Election Commission must be aware of the consequences of creating an order that goes against the existing provisions.

He said the BJP was not convinced by the reasoning of the commission's order and pointed out that the electoral rolls in Gujarat had been revised only recently. The draft electoral rolls were published in February 2002 and the final rolls were published in May 2002.

It was the EC's duty to ensure that the electoral rolls were in order, Jaitley said, and if individual corrections were to be made, a system could have been devised for that.

He pointed out that the government was endeavouring to hold an election in Jammu & Kashmir despite the environment of terrorism. "If such reasons are given for deferring elections, it would establish constitutional precedents, which could have serious implications," he argued.

Asked if the party would approach the courts regarding the discrepancies in the Election Commission's order, Jaitley said the BJP would discuss the issue before charting out its future course of action.

The Gujarat Elections 2002: The Complete Coverage

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