Sonepat seat: Should DGP Malik go on leave?

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">CHANDIGARH: Whether or not Haryana director general of police MS Malik should go on leave following the announcement by the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) president and Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala that DGP''s wife Krishna Malik is his party''s candidate for the Sonepat Lok Sabha seat is turning into a major controversy in the state political circles.<br /><br />The opposition, including the Congress and the BJP, has time and again expressed the views that the DGP should immediately go on leave in the interest of free and fair election in the Sonepat Parliamentary constituency scheduled to go to the polls on May 10.<br /><br />In fact, a state BJP delegation, led by its president Ganeshi Lal, on March 18 met Election Commission officials in Delhi and brought the issue to their notice.<br /><br />Ganeshi Lal has alleged that in violation of the model code of conduct, Haryana policemen in plainclothes are canvassing on behalf of Krishna Malik in the constituency.<br /><br />Soon after the announcement of Krishna Malik''s candidature, when chief minister Chautala was asked at a press conference here that if there was any move to shift the DGP, Chautala replied in the negative saying that there was no need to to do so as every citizen of this country has the right to fight elections.<br /><br />In support of his argument he pointed out that his son had fought Assembly byelection in the state while he (Chautala) was the chief minister of the state.The Election Commission at that time never asked him to step down, Chautala explained.<br /><br />Describing opposition''s allegations in this case as mere propaganda and an attempt to tarnish the image of the INLD candidate, the legal cell of the INLD has raised a pertinent question.<br /><br />It points out that legally a candidate is a candidate of a party for election purposes only after his or her nomination papers have been accepted and the Election Commission has declared him or her as a candidate after the day of withdrawals.<br /><br />A mere announcement of the candidature of a person by a political party is of no significance so far as the Representation of People''s Act is concerned, INLD''s legal cell points out.<br /><br />As for the BJP''s allegation that policemen in plainclothes are canvassing on behalf of the DGP''s wife, INLD''s legal cell argues that the BJP has failed to give the names of policemen or officials allegedly involved in canvassing on behalf of Krishna Malik.<br /><br /><formid=526372></formid=526372></div> </div>