Chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami's recommendation seeking the removal of election commissioner Navin Chawla has kicked up a row. And blogs are up in arms against Chawla. <?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
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Most of the blogs list out the past controversial conducts of Chawla. <o:p></o:p>
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According to this <a href="http://nvoi.blogspot.com/2009/01/ec-chawla-should-resign-or-be-sacked.html">blogger</a>,u00a0Navin Chawla has been a controversial bureaucrat. "He has been perceived close to Congress party" says the blogger named Voice of India.u00a0 <o:p></o:p>
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In this post named "Election Commissioner Chawla: Resign or be Sacked," the blog says that "Chawla belongs to that genre of self-serving bureaucrats! Election Commission and its image is jeopardized when tainted officers are appointed to its office." <o:p></o:p>
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"It is clear that Chawla would take a combative posture because such bureaucrats do not believe in ethics and moralsu2026The government should swiftly come into action and sack Chawla and appoint a new Election Commission," says this blogger.u00a0 <o:p></o:p>
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"Will the recuperating Prime Minister pay any attention to Chawla controversy?" the blogger concludes the post with this question.<o:p></o:p>
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"The cat is now out of the bag," says this <a href="http://satyabhashnam.blogspot.com/2009/01/election-gopalaswami-navin-chawla-sonia.html">blogger</a>.u00a0u00a0 <o:p></o:p>
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"Even the supposedly unbiased nonpartisan post of Election Commissioner have been devalued under despot Antonia Maino's dispensation," says this blogger, referring to Sonia Gandhi.u00a0 <o:p></o:p>
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"Navin Chawla was accused to be working under her majesty's orders. It would have gotten worse when an outgoing Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) would have been silently replaced by the controversial Navin Chawla but the matter is now in the public domain and open for public scrutiny," says the post. <o:p></o:p>
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The blogger recalls an instance in 2006 when L K Advani and 204 MPs had submitted a petition to then President APJ Abdul Kalam seeking the removal of Chawla as election commissioner on the ground of alleged partisanship. <o:p></o:p>
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This <a href="http://kaushikchelliah.wordpress.com/2009/01/31/navinbchawla-the-most-controversial-election-commissioner/">blogger</a>u00a0also feels that Chawla has been a man of controversy. <o:p></o:p>
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"Chawla has landed himself in many controversies. Every time he is caught up in a controversy, the office of the election commission gets defamed," says the blogger. <o:p></o:p>
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This blog post tells us that during the Emergency (1975-1977), Chawla was secretary to the Lt Governor of Delhi. "The Shah commission that inquired into the "emergency excesses" has described him to have behaved in an authoritarian manner and misused the power in a way to disregard the welfare of the citizens. The commission also declared that he is not fit to hold any public office." <o:p></o:p>
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In 2006, says the blogger, the BJP pleaded to the president for his removal, because Chawla's Jaipur-based education trust had secured MPLADS funds from four congress MPs. "They accused that chawla was allotted 6 acres of land from the congress government of Rajasthan." <o:p></o:p>
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The blogger feels that this is one more "testing time" for the President, Supreme Court, the Constitution and the country's democratic values. <o:p></o:p>
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"If the chief election commissioner wants one of his deputies to go, no one has the authority to stop him," argues this <a href="http://barbarindians.blogspot.com/2009/01/fixing-institutions-one-by-one-election.html">blogger</a>.u00a0u00a0 <o:p></o:p>
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This blogger named Barbarindians says the President is bound to honor the CEC's decision and is not supposed to generally overrule it. <o:p></o:p>
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Recalling the hue and cry created after President Kalam returned a bill the blogger says that "no matter how much they howl, it would be extraordinary for President Patil to return this recommendation, just like it is extra ordinary for the President to return a bill without signing." <o:p></o:p>
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"You simply can not conjure up arbitrary rules," says the blogger. <o:p></o:p>
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This <a href="http://krishnananth.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-was-provoked-to-write-this-after.html">blogger</a>u00a0named Krishnananth feels that Chawla "escaped penal action" despite being named by the Shah Commission because the Janata Party government collapsed under its own weight and the government fell in July 1979. <o:p></o:p>
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Indira Gandhi, who soon assumed power as Prime Minister, 'rehabilitated' Chawla as Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Labour after dumping the Shah Commission report, says the blogger.u00a0 <o:p></o:p>

CES row: Blogs rile Navin Chawla

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CES row: Blogs rile Navin Chawla

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