Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, following
the receipt of a letter from the Election Commission of India (ECI), the
Cabinet Secretariat (CabSec) has urged Secretaries to all Ministries to ensure
strict adherence with the norms in communications to the ECI and other
Constitutional authorities. Some Ministries, it pointed out, are still
writing to the Commission in “a routine mannerâ€, addressing demi-official
letters to the CEC or EC, in spite of clear instructions regarding the form and
procedure to be followed. In a letter to Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinha,
the EC has indicated that it would turn down any requests made to it for grant
of ‘No Objection’ for specific decisions if the Ministries’ communications to
the Constitutional body did not follow the procedure. The letter was sent by Deputy Election
Commissioner Sandeep Saxena on December 18, 2018. The letter pointed out that the Commission
had returned such requests in several cases during the recent State Assembly
elections and has cited some examples from the polls held in five States last
year, and the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh polls of December 2017. References to Constitutional and statutory
bodies like the EC have to be done in the form of a letter to its Secretary,
Principal Secretary or Deputy Election Commissioner (Deputy EC). Simply sending
an office memorandum from junior officials to the EC is not acceptable, it
said. Writing to the Chief Election Commissioner
(CEC) or the Election Commissioners (EC) is not permitted, except in rare
“important cases†where the head of a department feels that something has to be
brought to the personal notice of the CEC or ECs. “During general election to the State
Legislative Assemblies of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, references from the
Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Human Resource Development, for
grant of No Objection under the Model Code of Conduct were received in the form
of an office memorandum,†the letter said The Commission decided not to consider the
said references and returned them to the Ministries. Moreover, during the
recent polls in five States, a Joint Secretary in the Environment, Forest and
Climate Change Ministry made a reference directly to the Chief Election
Commissioner of India “by nameâ€, the Deputy EC pointed out.
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ECI: CabSec directs ministries to follow norms
By IndianMandarins - 2019-01-31 12:34:18
Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, following
the receipt of a letter from the Election Commission of India (ECI), the
Cabinet Secretariat (CabSec) has urged Secretaries to all Ministries to ensure
strict adherence with the norms in communications to the ECI and other
Constitutional authorities.
Some Ministries, it pointed out, are still writing to the Commission in “a routine mannerâ€, addressing demi-official letters to the CEC or EC, in spite of clear instructions regarding the form and procedure to be followed.
In a letter to Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinha, the EC has indicated that it would turn down any requests made to it for grant of ‘No Objection’ for specific decisions if the Ministries’ communications to the Constitutional body did not follow the procedure. The letter was sent by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena on December 18, 2018.
The letter pointed out that the Commission had returned such requests in several cases during the recent State Assembly elections and has cited some examples from the polls held in five States last year, and the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh polls of December 2017.
References to Constitutional and statutory bodies like the EC have to be done in the form of a letter to its Secretary, Principal Secretary or Deputy Election Commissioner (Deputy EC). Simply sending an office memorandum from junior officials to the EC is not acceptable, it said.
Writing to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) or the Election Commissioners (EC) is not permitted, except in rare “important cases†where the head of a department feels that something has to be brought to the personal notice of the CEC or ECs.
“During general election to the State Legislative Assemblies of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, references from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Human Resource Development, for grant of No Objection under the Model Code of Conduct were received in the form of an office memorandum,†the letter said
The Commission decided not to consider the said references and returned them to the Ministries. Moreover, during the recent polls in five States, a Joint Secretary in the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry made a reference directly to the Chief Election Commissioner of India “by nameâ€, the Deputy EC pointed out.
