Seeking to play down its complaint against Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday stressed that it was 'not on a collision course' with the Election Commission.
"One thing we want to make clear very categorically that BJP is not on a collision course with the Election Commission," Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, senior BJP leader and spokesman, told media persons in New Delhi.
Naqvi said the party has always respected the constitutional authority and was as much concerned about its prestige as any one. He, however, declined to comment on its letter against Chawla, saying the party will place its submissions only before the commission on Wednesday.
Naqvi also sought to clarify that the remarks of senior party leaders in Lucknow on Monday were not directed against the chief election commissioner, but the state election commissioner.
A BJP delegation comprising senior leaders including Naqvi, Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad submitted a letter with the Election Commission on Monday, requesting it to recuse Chawla from hearing the allegedly communal CD case.
The party's contention was it did not expect a fair assessment from Chawla as a case was pending against him in the Supreme Court in connection with receiving funds from a political party for his trust -- few weeks before his appointment as election commission by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.
Four parties -- Jan Morcha, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party and Congress -- too approached the commission on Monday, seeking 'derecognition' of BJP on the ground of violation of election code by releasing the CD in Lucknow.
BJP has disowned the CD saying it was released without the knowledge of party leaders. Two police complaints have been lodged in Lucknow at the instance of commission. First one lodged on April 5 has no name. The second one filed next day named party president Rajnath Singh as accused.