Congress again at its old Tricks!

Old Habits rarely die. one of the legacies of Indira gandhi was her subversion of independent constitutional institution. During her time, every constitutional Institution was subverted and was used to further her political agenda.

After almost 50 Years, it took one Mr. T N Seshan to take Election Commission out of clutches of Political Leadership. Most of the elections held after T N Seshan was free an fair(gone were the days when entire J&K Election was rigged by Congress Government). The election held in J&K under Atal Behari Vajpayee was considered as first independent election in J&K.

Now Congress is back with their old tricks. Earlier, they had appointed Navin Chawla who is considered very close to congress. Ford the uninitiated, Navin Chawla was Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi's stooge during the Dark Days of Emergency. His excesses during Emergency is mentioned in Justice Shah Commission report which investigated excesses during Emergency. The Shah Commission, which inquired into the  excesses during the Emergency, indicted Mr Chawla for having been  'authoritarian and callous' and for gross misuse of power "in cynical  disregard of the welfare of citizens". Further, it declared that he was  "unfit to hold any public office which demands an attitude of fair play  and consideration for others".The  Congress has planted Navin Chawla so that he would be the Chief Election Commissioner in 2009 when the general election is due.

One hundred and eighty MPs have signed a petition addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) asking him to recommend the “removal” of Navin Chawla as Election Commissioner. There is a very good chance that CEC would consider this petition favourably. In an attempt to pre-empt Mr Chawla’s disqualification UPA Govt is contemplating amending the Constitution. Yes You heard it right! UPA is planning to amend Constitution to protect one individual.

A B Bardhan, General Secretary, CPI correctly captured the sentiments when he said "to amend the constitution will be admitting that there is an attempt to save one person. Constitution cannot be changed everyday,''

The issue was reminiscent of an equally partisan and ill-conceived initiative in 1975 by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, after being unseated from the Lok Sabha by the Allahabad high court.