I still say transparency important: Lavasa

New Delhi, May 21

On a day Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and fellow commissioner Sushil Chandra turned down his demand to incorporate minority view in orders relating to model code violations, Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa today said he still believed that transparency was important and such cases should be dealt with in a time-bond manner.

Talking to the PTI after the meeting, Lavasa refused to comment on the issue of commission maintaining a status quo, saying, “minutes of the meeting will be drawn, instructions issued. Only then there would be a clarity.”

“In the meeting of the Election Commission held today regarding the issue of MCC (model code of conduct), it was, inter alia, decided that proceedings of the commission’s meeting would be drawn, including the views of all commission members,” the commission said in a statement after the meeting, which lasted for more than two hours.

“Thereafter, formal instructions to this effect would be issued in consonance with extant laws/rules, etc,” it further said.

Lavasa said, “Till the time there is clarity on the reasoning of the views, it is premature to say (anything).”

He said he continues to “say that transparency is important ... minority view should be included and there should be time-bound procedures. My view is very clear.”

Explaining the order, a commission official had said dissent notes and minority views would remain part of records of the poll panel.

Lavasa had dissented on a series of clean chits given by the commission to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah on their speeches during the election campaign.

As his demand to record his dissent notes in EC’s orders was not met, Lavasa recused himself from cases relating to relating to violations of model code of conduct.

In a strongly-worded letter to Arora on May 4, Lavasa is learnt to have said he was being forced to stay away from the meetings of the full commission since minority decisions are not being recorded. — PTI