Team Herald
PANJIM: The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Thursday said that the appointment of Deputy Chief Ministers was legitimate and has not violated provisions of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
While dropping the complaint filed by Congress’s Trajano D’Mello, CEO IAS Kunal said that the appointment of Deputy Chief Ministers was done by Governor Dr Mridula Sinha using her constitutional powers.
“The appointment is legitimate and hence no action is required. Governor issued order exercising her constitutional power,” Kunal told media persons.
He said that MCC talks about no new appointment in the government sector during election period and that government formation is different under the constitution of India.
The MCC came into force from March 10 evening with Election Commission of India (ECI) announcing Lok Sabha and assembly election schedule.
After death of Manohar Parrikar, Dr Pramod Sawant was sworn in as the new Chief Minister on March 19. On March 20, Governor issued an order appointing MGP MLA Sudin Dhavalikar and GFP MLA Vijay Sardesai as Deputy Chief Ministers.
Later, by the end of the month, Dhavalikar was dropped from cabinet and he was replaced by BJP MLA Manohar Azgaonkar as the Deputy Chief Minister.
Congress, in its submission to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, said the government should not have announced any decision which could influence voters after the Code of Conduct came into force.
The EC should “immediately set aside” the order appointing deputy chief ministers and take action against the concerned officer and the state government for violation of the Code of Conduct, D’Mello’s petition said.
