New Delhi, May 16
The 1965 batch IAS officer of Himachal Pradesh Cadre, Mr B B Tandon, today took over as the 14th Chief Election Commissioner of the country, along with Information and Broadcasting Secretary Naveen Chawla as one of the Commissioners in the three-member poll panel.
Mr Tandon succeeded Mr T.S. Krishna Murthy who retired on Sunday. Mr Chawla assumed charge as the third election commissioner.
He takes over as CEC at a time when, he along with another election commissioner, N. Gopalaswami, have come under attack from senior bureaucrat L.V. Saptarishi and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad.
Talking to reporters soon after assuming office, Mr Tandon said the recent controversy over allegations levelled by a senior bureaucrat was a “deliberate and calculated attempt to denigrate and undermine the credibility and political neutrality” of the poll body.
“The developments over the last one week have been most unfortunate. I have been greatly pained and hurt over these developments since May 7 in which wild and baseless allegations have been made against me and my esteemed
colleague N Gopalaswami,” he said.
The “scurrilous” allegations that they made certain derogatory remarks against a particular community and wanted to teach a lesson to a particular leader was “most reprehensive,” Mr Tandon said.
“I feel this was a deliberate and calculated attempt to denigrate and undermine the credibility, political neutrality and fair-mindedness of the EC, which has already made a niche for itself in the democratic system of our country, a fact widely recognised throughout the country as well as internationally,” he said.
He said that such attempts could never succeed in “deterring me, my colleagues and the Commission” from discharging the constitutional responsibility in an objective, impartial and totally apolitical manner.
Referring to the electoral reform proposals, he said the Commission had submitted 22-point Electoral Reforms proposals to the government and was yet to hear from the government.
The EC also proposed to issue electoral rolls with photographs and this exercise had been completed in Kerala and Pondicherry, he said, adding efforts would be made to complete the exercise before the next parliamentary polls.
As CEC for one year till June next year, Mr Tandon would conduct Assembly polls in five states, including West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
Mr Tandon, who was also a member of the Delimitation Commission, said that Mr Gopalaswami would be the new member of the same.
Mr Chawla, who also assumed office today, said, “The commission was an independent and constitutional authority known for its objectivity, neutrality and fairness.”
Considering that the Election Commission was recognised both at home and abroad, Mr Chawla said it was “a great privilege to be part of such an esteemed institution”.
Outgoing CEC T.S. Krishna Murthy Sunday said the charges levelled by Saptarishi were a test for the commission, which would come out stronger from it.
On the issuance of photo identity cards to voters, Tandon regretted some states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Bihar had not shown enough progress.
“Our plan is to enhance the coverage of photo identity cards from the national level of 66 per cent to at least 85 per cent and more as early as possible,” he said.
On the delimitation of constituencies, the CEC said that the delimitation work was at an advanced stage in some states including Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Pondicherry, where Assembly polls were due next year.
He said that the Commission expected the government to take a decision soon in the five states so that the Assembly polls could be conducted on the basis of new delimitated constituencies.
Mr Chawla, a 1969 batch IAS officer, was due to retire in June. Now he would have a five-year tenure in the three-member Election Commission. The other member of the Commission is Mr N Gopalaswami.
Mr Tandon would have tenure of one year as CEC and was expected to be succeeded by Mr Gopalaswami, who would have a two-year stint on the post.
Mr Chawla was also likely to have a two-year term as CEC from 2008 and hold the next Lok Sabha polls in the event of the UPA government completing its full term.
