Reports on election commissioner Lavasa recusing himself from meetings 'unsavoury': CEC
New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora Saturday described as "unsavory" and "avoidable" reports that fellow commissioner Ashok Lavasa has decided to recuse himself from meetings related to model code violations till he is not allowed to record his dissent.
He also said in the last meeting of the commission on May 14, it was "unanimously" decided to form groups to deliberate issues which arose in the course of conduct of Lok Sabha elections.
"Out of the 13 issues/areas which were identified, model code of conduct is one of them," Arora said in a statement.
He said the report on Lavasa's decision not to take part in model code related issues comes at a time when the poll watchdog is gearing up for the last phase of Lok Sabha polls and counting of votes.
"The three members of the ECI are not expected to be template or clones of each other. There have been so many times in the past when there has been a vast diversion of views as it can and should be. But the same largely remained within the confines of the ECI," Arora said.
The poll panel's laws suggest preference for an unanimous view, but provide for a majority ruling in the absence of unanimity.
In a strongly-worded letter to Arora on May 4, Lavasa is learnt to have said he is being forced to stay away from the meetings of the full commission since minority decisions are not being recorded.
He is also learnt to have said his participation in the meeting is "meaningless" as his dissent remained unrecorded.
Lavasa said his notes on the need for transparency have not been responded to so he has decided to stay away from model code related complaints.
The EC's legal division had opined that dissent cannot be recorded on decisions as model code violations are not part of a quasi judicial hearing where all the three -- the CEC and two fellow commissioners sign.
The majority view is conveyed to the parties concerned.The dissent remains recorded in the file only and not made public.
Lavasa had dissented in some of the 11 decisions the EC took on complaints against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah for alleged model code violations.
The two were given a clean chit in all the decisions.
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Bengaluru: Techie duped of Rs 1.46 lakh in IPL ticket scam via Instagram
Bengaluru: A 25-year-old techie was cheated of Rs 1.46 lakh by a fraudster posing as an IPL ticket seller on Instagram, in a case reported from B Narayanapura.
According to a complaint filed at the Mahadevapura police station, the accused identified himself as Sumit Biswal, claiming to be a senior supervisor at the ticket counter of M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. He assured the victim that he could arrange IPL tickets along with food coupons, Deccan Herald reported.
He also convinced the victim to transfer money in multiple UPI transactions from his account and his mother’s account.
Despite receiving the amount, the accused neither delivered the tickets nor refunded the money, police said.
The complainant said that the accused promised not just match tickets but ‘VIP benefits’ like food coupons and extra ID cards for friends for RCB vs CSK, scheduled for Sunday.
"He asked me to come near the stadium gate number 10, saying someone would deliver the tickets within minutes, and even sent an email confirmation to gain my trust," the victim said.
"Initially, I agreed to buy two tickets for Rs 3,700 each, but he kept asking for more money under various pretexts such as refundable security deposits, additional ID cards and food coupons. Trusting him, I made multiple payments, even using my mother’s bank account after exhausting my own limits, and ended up transferring around Rs 1.46 lakh," he said.
Police have registered a case and further investigation is underway.
