Maha Assembly Speaker rejects Cong demand to initiate impeachment proceedings against SEC

Nagpur, Dec 10 (IANS) Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday turned down the demand made by former Speaker and senior Congress legislator Nana Patole to initiate the impeachment proceedings against the State Election Commissioner (SEC).

Patole has alleged “chaos and irregularities” surrounding 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 Assembly and not in line with the recent Supreme Court judgement 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 SEC’s irresponsibility. He referred to Article 243 of the Constitution, arguing 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”.

Recently, CM Fadnavis 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.

Shiv Sena(UBT) slammed the SEC for abruptly postponing elections before voting was scheduled to begin in 24 nagar parishads and 154 wards in 76 nagar parishads and nagar panchayats to December 20, saying that the move is 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.

In a particularly harsh critique, the Thackeray camp in the party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ editorial labelled the SEC a “joker” in the political game, asserting that the government, and “especially the BJP, has made the Election Commission its joker”. Furthermore, it has been a “planned mess and chaos”, with the sole objective being to ensure a “benefit for the BJP”.

–IANS

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