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EC has exceeded its brief: Jayalalithaa

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI Aug. 21 : Matching the BJP's vehement criticism of the Election Commission's "excesses", the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK chief, Jayalalithaa, today said the poll panel's job was only to conduct elections and not to "e00ncroach on the role of the executive".

In an unequivocal support to the Centre's decision to move the Supreme Court against the Election Commission's decision to put off the polls in Gujarat, Ms. Jayalalithaa told the media here: ``The Election Commission has been exceeding its brief and straying into the domain of the executive''.

The AIADMK chief, who has been critical of the Election Commission on several occasions including recently when it ordered repoll in several booths in Saidapet byelections, called for an end to the panel's "activism".

According to her, ``this kind of activism (by the Election Commission) was not envisaged in the Constitution." Democracy "got on well" before the commission began playing a "pro-active role" and issued directives to the executive when T.N. Seshan was the Chief Election Commissioner. Ms. Jayalalithaa expressed the hope that the Supreme Court would take a firm stance on the issue. However, she hastened to add that the support for Centre's stand on the Election Commission should not be construed as support for the Gujarat incidents.

Pessed further on the confrontation between the Election Commission and the Centre, she called for a nation-wide debate.

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