NEW DELHI, 10 May 2005 — Dismissing allegations made by a senior officer on countermanding of elections in Chhapra (Bihar), union Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj said yesterday that he was not in favor of questioning the poll panel’s integrity. Last week, L.V. Saptarishi had claimed to have written a letter to the law minister alleging that the repoll in Chhapra, from where Railway Minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav had been elected, was ordered last year under pressure from BJP chief L.K. Advani and Election Commissioners B.B. Tandon and N. Gopalaswami. Saptarishi also accused Tandon, who is to take over as the next chief election commissioner in the coming week, of making casteist remarks against him.

While replying to questions in the Parliament on the controversy raised over Saptarishi’s allegations, the law minister denied having received any such letter from him. He told reporters: “I have no such letter. I cannot tell you if there is any other minister under whom he is working and he has that letter. He can certainly call for his (civil servant’s) explanation.”

“I do not know who Saptarishi is… He has never contacted me and even if he contacts with such a letter, I would never have entertained him,” Bharadwaj said.

Suggesting that Saptarishi might have breached discipline by criticizing the EC, Bharadwaj said: “It is not proper for a civil servant to criticize any constitutional authority. They come under certain discipline and they should adhere to it.” Displaying no inclination to challenge the poll panel’s integrity, the law minister told reporters: “As far as the controversy is concerned, I am not in favor of challenging the integrity of such long serving election officers.”

Though the law minister came out strongly in favor of the Election Commission, the scene was different inside both the houses of the Parliament. Earlier, during the zero hour, RJD members with the support of Congress parliamentarians raised the issue in both the houses. Waving a copy of Saptarishi’s letter, the RJD members demanded an immediate debate on the issue. They also wanted to know what action was being taken by the government on the letter Saptarishi had allegedly written to the law minister.

As the issue concerned constitutional authorities, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee in the Lok Sabha and Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in Rajya Sabha repeatedly said that they could not permit it to be raised without proper notice.