Gill defends RO, says Kerala leader was sitting MLA

Express News Service

New Delhi, April 30: CHIEF Election Commissioner M.S. Gill today defended the decision of the Returning Officer (RO) who accepted the nomination of former Kerala minister R. Balakrishna Pillai despite his being convicted for five years under charges of corruption.

The RO had acted in accordance with the Representation of Peoples Act, which distinguishes between sitting MLAs/MPs and other candidates in respect of the penalty clause, Gill told mediapersons. ‘‘The country must understand that the law applies in Kerala.’’

According to Section 8 (4) of the RPA, conviction against an MP or MLA gets postponed by three months from the date of the trial court order. Once an appeal is filed, the disqualification does not come into effect at all till the appeal is dismissed, Gill said. Pillai escaped the disqualification because he was a sitting MLA, whereas AIADMK chief Jayalalitha did not get the benefit of the provision.

Gill also said that the Government and the EC had reached an agreement under which the announcement of elections would be made not more than three weeks before the notification date, when the model code of conduct comes into force. The agreement was recently placed before the Supreme Court which disposed of an appeal by the Government against a 1997 Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling which stated that the EC could enforce the code from the date of announcement of elections.