CEC complains to PM about Khurshid's remarks

Taking strong exception to Law Minister Salman Khurshid's recent comments, Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi has complained to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying the minister had tried to undermine the authority of the Election Commission with his public utterances.

While Quraishi, when contacted by PTI, refused to comment on his letter to the prime minister, sources said the CEC had raised the matter conveying his disapproval of Khurshid's public comments against the constitutional body.

The sources said that Quraishi had written a letter to the prime minister about a fortnight ago saying the law minister was trying to undermine the EC by stating that "every institution is under some control".

The prime minister has now replied to the CEC reiterating that no one could undermine the EC's independent and constitutional status, the sources said.

This is the second time in recent days that Khurshid has drawn EC's ire. The commission had on Tuesday served show cause notice on the minister on a complaint by the BJP protesting his promise of 9 per cent sub-quota for minorities in UP while campaigning for his wife Louise in Farrukhabad on Sunday.

While EC officials remained tight-lipped about the CEC letter written to PM, the election body would take up Khurshid's reply on the show cause notice served on him in the full house meeting on Friday.

The minister had denied having violated the model code of conduct, saying the promise was made by the Congress in its manifesto released in the run-up to the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.