No provision in electoral law to punish officials not obeying EC directions: RTI

The Election Commission issues a number of directions to authorities during elections but it appears that its hands are tied when it comes to taking punitive action against those not complying with its instructions, as there are no specific provisions in electoral laws or its own instructions for dealing with such instances.

The EC's response came in queries filed by DH through RTI in connection with the direction it gave to Delhi Police to issue a warning to Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajesh Deo, compliance report and the action taken by it in case the authorities did not comply with its instructions.

Despite one year passing on, the EC said, it has not received a compliance report from Delhi Police though it had instructed it to submit it on February 6 last year.

To the question on the provisions for punitive action for non-compliance of its direction by public authorities like police, it said in its response on February 5, "(there are) no such specific provisions in respect of public authorities are available in the electoral laws and Commission’s instructions."

DH submitted a series of questions to the EC following a news report published on January 8 based on an RTI filed by transparency activist Neeraj Sharma. The responses to Sharma's RTI showed that there is no document to suggest that a warning was issued to Deo and submit a compliance report to EC.

Deo landed in controversy after his comments during a press conference on February 4 last year, three days before the Assembly polls when he claimed that Kapil Baisala, who opened fire at the anti-CAA protest site in Shaheen Bagh , and his father had joined AAP in the early months of 2019. AAP had alleged the remarks were made at the behest of its rival BJP.

Following this, the EC asked Delhi Police to issue a warning and communicate its displeasure on his conduct, not assign any poll related duty and sent a compliance report by February 6 last year.

In its response to DH's RTI, the EC said it had not sent any reminder to the police on not receiving the compliance report in the stipulated date. It also appears that the EC has not closed the file as it said that "no such details are available in the record of the Commission", when asked for details if it has done so.

On the letter written by Delhi Police seeking reconsideration of the EC's decision to issue a warning to Deo, the RTI response said, the matter is still under consideration.

In its letter to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Delhi, which was forwarded to the EC, earlier accessed by Sharma through RTI, Special Commissioner (Intelligence) Praveer Ranjan claimed that Deo shared "only facts which had emerged during the investigation without any intention to affect or adversely impact any political party in the election".

While Deo was in the Crime Branch when the incident took place, he was shifted out later. Last year, he also went on to win the Union Home Minister's Medal for Excellence in Investigation.