State governments can no longer seek to purge themselves of any poll-related case as a new Election Commission directive now prohibits the withdrawal of such cases without the Commission's approval, according to a report in the Hindustan Times.

The chief election commissioner Navin Chawla has asked the chief electoral officers of all states to seek the commission's permission before withdrawing any case related to electoral malpractices and violence.

The directive follows the Karnataka government's move to withdraw all such cases against the Reddy brothers of Bellary, registered during the 2008 assembly elections and 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

Election officials had registered the cases against the Reddy brothers for allegedly threatening and assaulting political rivals to make them withdraw from the contest.

The B S Yeddurappa government withdrew the cases despite the state polie and the law department advising against it.

Chawla acknowledged having issued the directive while refusing to comment on it further. "It is an ongoing process to strengthen the Election Commission," he told the newsdaily.

A large number of complaints against Karnataka's decision to withdraw the cases against G. Janardhana Reddy and S. Sriramulu - both ministers in the state government - have also been lodged with the commission.

But the government has defended the withdrawal saying the state cabinet was well within the constitution in doing so.

Highlighting the futility of registering the cases when states could withdraw them at will, a commission official told HT that such cases needed to be tried in a court and the states' intervention on the behalf of the accused was a 'unhealthy trend'.

The law ministry, the administrative and controlling authority for the EC, is mulling more powers for the commission and is preparing a blueprint for electoral reforms.