Election code on govt's 'agenda': Clash with EC?

The government may come into confrontation with the Election Commission over its attempt to curb the latter's immense authority to almost take over all administration powers through the Model Code of Conduct during the elections.

Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi intends to write to President Pratibha Patil on the matter the government is trying to meddle into after its two senior Union ministers and Congress star campaigner Rahul Gandhi were pulled up for violation of the code, sources in the Election Commission said.

The Model Code of Conduct has been flagged for discussion in a meeting of the Group of Ministers on corruption convened in New Delhi on Wednesday afternoon on the request of Law Minister Salman Khurshid, who had to tender regrets last week after getting a snub from the Election Commission for defiance of the code.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, chairman of the GoM, has agreed that the code brought into force by the Election Commission during elections was "one of the biggest excuses to stall development projects," say the agenda papers for the 7th meeting of the GoM.

The secretary, legislative department, will be making a presentation before the GoM in this regard. The GoM will also examine executive instructions issued by the Election Commission over the years for giving them a statutory shape through a legislation.

The GoM will push for recommendations on various poll related issues, excluding such areas where consultation with political parties was required, sources said.

The GoM set up in January last year has so far held six meetings. The last meeting was held way back in September 30. A background note circulated for the Wednesday meeting details progress made by the government on its recommendations on nine of the issues, including the Lokpal Bill.

Meanwhile, a battery of ministers, who are in the GoM on corruption -- Pranab Mukherjee, Kapil Sibal and Salman Khurshid, besides the Department of Personnel -- vehemently denied that there was any proposal to rein in EC by giving statutory backing to the Model Code of Conduct.

"The contents of the report are totally misconceived as there is no such move under contemplation of the government or the Group of Ministers," the DoPT said in an official statement.

"The GoM has not made any recommendation to make the MCC statutory or to take it outside the purview of the commission," the DoPT added.

Mukherjee, however, said, "There is no such thing. I don't know from where this idea has come. But in the GoM agenda, there is nothing."

Law Minister Khurshid said there was no such thing on the agenda. "As I understand, it was agreed that once the elections are over, there will be an all-party consultations on issues about electoral reforms, many of which have been pushed by the Election Commission itself," he said.

Hitting out at the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party said it was becoming a party of "serial offenders" with several of its leaders defying the poll code and going against the EC.

With inputs from PTI