In a move to block what is seen by critics as an attempt to delay the general elections, a member of the Pheu Thai Party this morning asked the Election Commission (EC) to request the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of a motion filed by 36 National Legislative Council (NLA) members to overturn the appointment of poll inspectors.
The NLA members want the law on Election Commission amended so that the EC’s selection of 616 poll inspectors to be deployed in 77 provinces, including Bangkok, would be nullified.
Ruangkrai Leekitwattana, a member of the Pheu Thai Party’s legal team, charged that what the legislators are doing could be regarded as a conflict of interest as the proposed amendment might be in the interest of a certain group of people.
He asked the EC to ask the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of the motion.
If the 36 NLA members were found to have violated the constitution, the EC could ask the Constitutional Court to strip them off the NLA membership, Mr Ruangkrai added.
Poll inspectors are tasked with monitoring elections and investigating fraud complaints before forwarding them to the EC for consideration.
The 616 poll inspectors have been hand-picked by the out-going Election Commission. Some of the NLA members believe that their appointment should be handled by the new Election Commission and have submitted a bill to amend the law on the Election Commission to that effect. But critics see the move as a ploy to further delay the elections.
