After the formation of the new BJP government in Haryana, the state BJP government had decided to come up with the cabinet expansion after the Model Code of Conduct was imposed but the issue seems to have stuck as Chief Electoral Officer of Election Commission has taken cognizance of the complaint of Congress MLA Neeraj Sharma regarding the cabinet expansion seeking clarification from Haryana Chief Secretary. Neeraj Sharma had filed a complaint to the Chief Electoral Officer of Haryana, objecting to the cabinet expansion. as well as stating that after the announcement of Lok Sabha elections, the code of conduct has been imposed, hence the cabinet expansion cannot be done. Further the complaint mentioned that doing so is a clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
In his complaint, the Congress MLA had cited the cabinet expansion as a violation of the Model Code of Conduct and said that there is a possibility of new appointments in the cabinet having an impact on the elections. Despite this, these appointments were made in the cabinet and expanded, bypassing the rules as well as breaking the norms. It is clearly mentioned in the Gazette notification of the Haryana Government that the Governor has appointed eight ministers on the advice of the Chief Minister. Therefore these appointments should be canceled with immediate effect. The complaint received from the Congress MLA has been confirmed by the Election Commission. According to the information received, after registering this complaint of the Congress MLA, the information has also been sent to the Central Election Commission.
This letter has been sent by the Assistant Electoral Officer to Chief Secretary Haryana TVSN Prasad and has been asked to respond and clarify the complaint. It is pertinent to mention that after consultation with the Advocate General (AG) of Haryana, the state Government had obtained information before the cabinet expansion that expanding the cabinet during the Code of Conduct is not a violation of it. In this regard, the government had discussions with the Central Election Commission, State Election Commission and Advocate General, after which the government took the decision to expand the cabinet. It was told by the Election Commission that if any such complaint is received, it will be forwarded to the Central Election Commission. After this, whatever decision the Central Election Commission takes, it will be informed to the state government.
However, while reacting to the issue, an expert in such matters, Hemant Kumar said that there is no hindrance in cabinet expansion during the code of conduct. Recently, the case of the Tamil Nadu Governor not administering oath to a minister was tabled for hearing by the Supreme Court.On this, the Supreme Court had not expressed any objection to the minister taking oath in the code of conduct. During the Code of Conduct in July 1999, the cabinet of former CM Om Prakash Chautala was also expanded. No question was raised on this at that time, hence there is no constitutional hurdle for the Saini government to expand its cabinet.
