Manish Tewari to raise EC's 'informal meeting' with PMO in Lok Sabha

Congress leader Manish Tewari on Friday submitted a notice to move an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha on the "summoning" of Election Commission for a meeting in the Prime Minister's Office to discuss electoral reforms.

In the notice, he raised questions on the autonomy of the poll panel, but the Lok Sabha was adjourned amid uproar over the Lakhimpur Kheri violence. The former I&B minister said he will submit the notice to move the adjournment motion again on Monday.

"Why was the Election Commission summoned summarily and whether it is a fact that the Commission took umbrage to the manner in which they were virtually compelled to attend the meeting in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO)," Tewari said, referring to the "informal meeting" of three election commissioners with officials in the PMO on electoral reforms.

"What exactly are the implications with regard to the autonomy of the Election Commission?" the Lok Sabha member from Anandpur Sahib asked.

The Opposition has slammed the Modi government over the "summoning" of the Election Commission for the meeting in the PMO, alleging that the poll authority had become a "subservient tool" of the government.

Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and fellow commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anoop Chandra Pandey recently held "informal interaction" with the Prime Minister's Office to bridge gaps in understanding of key electoral reforms between the poll panel and the law ministry.

The main opposition Congress had contended that such a meeting raises questions of propriety.

Election Commission sources said the three commissioners had stayed away from the formal meeting convened by the PMO.