By IANS,
New Delhi : Former solicitor general Harish Salve Sunday said that the Election Commission (EC) has the last word on the violation of model code of conduct and those who disagree can move court.
“The Election Commission has the last word in the violation of the model code,” Salve told news channel Times Now, a day after the poll panel wrote to President Pratibha Patil on Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid’s defiant stand on quota for backward Muslims in Uttar Pradesh despite its censure.
“If somebody feels that the Election Commission is wrong there are courts of law. You can move to a court and say please set aside this directive of the Election Commission,” he added.
Salve said that if one constitutional authority defied another, there would be anarchy.
“It’s not the question of who’s right or who’s wrong, it’s a question of how do constitutional authorities interface,” he said.
Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quarishi Saturday wrote a strongly-worded letter to the president, saying the poll panel found the tone and tenor of the union minister’s latest remarks “utterly contemptuous about the commission’s lawful direction to him”.
Patil forwarded Quraishi’s letter over Khurshid to the prime minister’s office for “appropriate action”.
Khurshid Friday evening said in Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukhabad district that he would ensure rights to “pasmanda (backward Muslims)” even if he was “hanged” by the poll panel.