Model code of conduct required for Chief Election Commissioners
LETTER TO THE EDITOR To, The Editor 16-3-04 Sir, CODE OF CONDUCT FOR ECI I was surprised to see our newly appointed Indian Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishnamurthy in the company of Christian priests attending some function in Chennai which was widely shown in TV channels. This is immediately after some of the Christian priests' associations had given calls to Christians to vote for Christian candidates only. In the second week of February 2004 the National Congress of Indian Christians (NCIC) had written to the Christian Sonia Gandhi to allot 30 seats for Christian candidates for the Andhra Pradesh assembly elections saying that the Christian population in AP is now 10%. This request itself is not surprising as the Congress party appears to be taken over by the Christians. So far the Christians were claiming that they are only 2.3% of the population and the sudden spurt in their population in AP indicates the rampant and virulent conversion activities that is going on for the past decade in AP, with the connivance of the politicians like Chandrababu Naidu and with the help of foreign missionaries in business visa operating in the state violating the law of the land. In states like Tamil Nadu this rampant conversion by missionaries had resulted in the growth of up to 50% Christian population in the coastal Kanyakumari district. In February last week Christian priests assembled in Mangalore asked Christians to vote for Christian candidates only and demanded Christians to be put as candidates for various areas. This communal call is unprecedented and will open up a Pandora's Box. The CEC is required to pull up such pronouncements by communal elements, but unfortunately he was seen in their company shortly afterwards in Chennai giving a sort of legitimacy for these communal approach to our elections by Christians. Hence it is necessary that CEC should have a code of conduct and should attend only government functions and should refrain from attending other public functions. This need for a model code of conduct for the Election Commission was felt when the previous CEC James Michael Lyngdoh was in office. He once retorted to a District Collector in public as "Are you a joker? Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" He also referred the politicians who wanted early elections as `mad'. Later he referred the politicians as 'cancer'. He also said that the Governors are like peons. While we ordinary citizens can refer the politicians as the way we want within decent limits, a constitutional authority reporting to the politician in power, should never demean his bosses, as they are the ones we ordinary citizens have put in power by our votes. CECs had created an atmosphere of fear among the politicians by suspending even ongoing welfare and drought relief programmes. Election is a festival time for the citizens and certain amount of freedom should be allowed for the parties to freely express their opinions and there is no need to restrict the festive mood. During the election campaign the political parties and contesting candidates are expected to abide by a Model Code of Conduct evolved by the Election Commission. Similarly a model Code should be laid down for CECs. CEC should also investigate even the past misdeeds of leaders like Sonia Gandhi who voted in 1980, a solid three years before she became a citizen of India while she was still a citizen of Italy which constituted a violation of Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 that is punishable with imprisonment for one year or with fine or both. Even after such gross violations of law no action was taken so far, and indicates the failure of our Election Commission. N. KRISHNA N.Krishna, BSc (Eng), DBM, DITM, PGDTQM, PGDEM, MIE, CE, MIHospE (UK), MemASHRAE (USA), ISHRAE Ex. Senior Scientific Officer, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bombay P.O. Box 1055, Himayat Nagar, Hyderabad 500029 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] / [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Forwarded by www.goa-world.com (as received) through the [EMAIL PROTECTED] forum __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam http://mail.yahoo.com ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
