Modi Government’s persona non grata and tainted Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa escapes to Asian Development Bank

Why would an Election Commissioner, who would most likely become the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), throw it away and choose to accept the post of a Vice President at the Asian Development Bank? Ashok Lavasa, whose family is facing Income Tax probes has decided to do just that. Lavasa, who has more than two years tenure left in the Election Commission, would have normally been elevated to the post of Chief Election Commissioner by April 2021. As Election Commissioner, during Lok Sabha 2019 campaign time, Lavasa became a hero in the eyes of Opposition parties and their supporting media by suggesting actions against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then BJP President for violation of poll codes.

It is a different matter that the complaints on poll code violation were engineered by the main Opposition party Congress based on Times of India’s reports. Many BJP leaders believe that the Times of India newspaper worked in tandem with Congress during the Lok Sabha elections.  But the CEC Sunil Arora and other Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra did not favour the complaints and Ashok Lavasa became the dissenter and the blue-eyed boy of Congress[1].

For the past 25 years, Lavasa has been part and parcel of the Delhi – Haryana bureaucratic wheels.

The following month, after the election results, Times of India’s advertisements were stopped by the Government and later Times of India later patched up[2].

But Lavasa’s hero-like image collapsed on May 20, 2019, when PGurus exposed him of illegal practices involving his wife and family business. His wife Novel Singhal Lavasa who was just a former Bank Manager was found to be in many top companies as Director when her husband was the Secretary to Government in plum Ministries like Finance and Environment. Lavasa has not yet uttered a word about this PGurus expose published on May 20, 2019[3].

In November 2019, Ashok Lavasa’s wife and son started facing Income Tax probes. Son’s companies were also getting good venture funds when Lavasa was Finance Secretary[4].

After being caught by the Government, Ashok Lavasa decided to buy peace. He was well aware that Modi Government does not want him as the next Chief Election Commissioner and President of India may order a probe on him against the charges facing his wife and son’s business and his role in misusing his positions in Government. For the past 25 years, Lavasa has been part and parcel of the Delhi – Haryana bureaucratic wheels. So when someone offered an olive branch, the sensible Lavasa took it and will be escaping to the Asian Development Bank.

References:

[1] Ashok Lavasa wanted Election Commission to write to PM Modi for his cooperation – May 6, 2019, The Economic Times

[2] Modi government stops advertising in The Times Group, The Hindu and The Telegraph newspaper – Jun 27, 2019, PGurus.com

[3] Ethics preaching Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa’s wife became Director of 12 companies when he became Secretary to Gov – May 20, 2019, PGurus.com

[4] Exposed for abuse of power – Ethics-preaching Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa’s wife and son have started resigning from Directorships of Private Companies – Dec 14, 2019, PGurus.com