Supreme Court issues contempt notice to BJP leader Manoj Tiwari
New Delhi, Sep 19 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought the presence of BJP MP Manoj Tiwari before it for breaking the lock of a sealed premises in Delhi's Gokulpur village.
"It's important that elected members should not defy the order of this court," a bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur, Justice Abdul S. Nazeer and Justice Deepak Gupta said while issuing a contempt notice to Tiwari and asked him to appear before it on September 25.
Terming the action of Tiwari "unfortunate", the bench said it shows a "disturbed affair where a member of Parliament is alleged to have broken the seal of some premises" despite sealing operation in terms of orders passed by the apex court.
Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, assisting the court in the sealing issue, requested the court to take stringent action against Tiwari for breaking the lock of a sealed premises.
The monitoring committee said members of political parties and others were intentionally and deliberately violating the court's order not to interfere in the sealing drive against illegal and unauthorised construction in the city.
It said the court should act tough against such persons to ensure that its orders were not violated.
Tiwari, meanwhile, again visited the village on Tuesday and protested against the sealing drive initiated by municipal authorities, Kumar told the bench.
He contended that the police has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party chief Manoj Tiwari for illegally breaking the lock.
He has been booked under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 461 and 465 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act.
"The monitoring committee requests this court to pass stringent directions, including initiation of contempt proceedings against Manoj Tiwari, MP, for seal-tampering so that sealing operations may continue uninterrupted as per the direction of this court," the report said.
The top court has time and again warned political leaders not to politicise the issue of sealing and had earlier issued contempt notice to BJP MLA O.P. Sharma and Municipal Councillor Gunjan Gupta for preventing the committee for taking action against unauthorised constructions in Delhi but the two were let off after they tendered an unconditional apology.
A video footage of Tiwari breaking a sealed lock of a house in an unauthorised colony went viral on social media.
The sealing drive in Delhi is being carried out by a Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee against business establishments using residential properties for commercial purposes. It is being implemented by three BJP-led Municipal Corporations of Delhi.
The committee was set up by the Supreme Court in 2006. In 2012, the apex court asked the committee to stop the drive. But in December 2017 it ordered resumption of the drive.
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“Full prepared..going to win,” Congress MP KC Venugopal ahead of Kerala polls
EC not functioning as a neutral institution: Venugopal
Congress MP K. C. Venugopal on Monday raised concerns over the election schedule announced by the Election Commission of India for the upcoming Kerala Assembly election, questioning the timing of the poll dates and alleging that the schedule leaves limited time for campaigning.
Speaking to news agency ANI in Delhi after the poll panel announced elections in five states and Union Territories, Venugopal said that the Congress and the United Democratic Front (UDF) are fully prepared for the elections and confident of victory. At the same time, he questioned the pattern of dates announced by the Election Commission.
“We are fully prepared, we are going to win the elections... You can see how the Election Commission has set the dates. The first phase of elections is on the 9th, nominations are due until the 23rd, scrutiny is on the 24th, nominations can be withdrawn until the 26th, and after that, there are 11 days for campaigning,” he said.
“As for Kerala, there is Easter and Good Friday in the first week...The Election Commission could have announced the dates earlier... The counting date is on May 4th, so what was the point of holding elections in Kerala so early? What is their intention behind holding elections on the same day in Kerala, Puducherry, and Assam?... We are confident that we will win, but the people of the country are seeing the biased attitude of the Election Commission...,” he added.
He further stated that his party was ready for elections irrespective of the dates announced by the poll body.
“We are going to win the election. India's strategy has been set up. And we are all ready for winning this election. But one thing as far as declaring election, even though they are giving only for five days, we are going to win the election. We have no problem,” he said.
Detailing the poll schedule while questioning the time available for campaigning, he stated, “but you can see the pattern of date which the election commission announced. Yesterday they declared election, and today they notified us. The first phase of election on April 9th, filing of nomination will be over on the 23rd of this month, 24th scrutiny, 26th withdrawal of nomination. After 26, four plus seven, 11 days campaign.”
“As far as Kerala is concerned, April first week is a holy week. The holiday week means, Good Friday is there. Nobody will do anything on Good Friday. Easter is the big festival. These festivals are natural, you have to see that. Among the 11 days, working days, two, three days will go for holidays. Then hardly seven, eight days for campaigning in this election for candidates,” the Congress MP questioned.
The Congress leader said the Election Commission could have announced the dates earlier if there was a need for an early election schedule.
Questioning the urgency behind placing Kerala in the first phase of polling, he added that the counting date is much later.
“Which is the date of counting? Fourth May. Then what is the urgency of putting Kerala in the first phase without giving sufficient time for candidates? And putting Kerala, Puducherry, Assam together, what is the intention behind that?” Venugopal questioned.
He also alleged that the Election Commission was not functioning as a neutral institution.
“The Election commission is completely losing that capacity as a neutral player. You can see 14 of our prime minister's programs over and on the 15th they announce the election, 16th notification comes,” he said.
Venugopal further stated that such tactics would not affect the Congress’ prospects in the election.
“They think that this type of techniques and tactics, because of these techniques and tactics, UDF is going to lose, and Congress is going to lose. This is their complete dream only. This is not going to happen. We are very much confident at any cost, whether they are not giving any time also, we are going to win the election,” he said.
“But the people of India are watching this. The tricks of the election commission. To restrict the campaign, people of India are watching. This I want to bring into the notice of the nation. That's all,” Venugopal said.
The Election Commission of India on Sunday announced the schedule for the Kerala Assembly election. Polling in the state will be held in a single phase on April 9 while the counting of votes is scheduled to take place on May 4.
