Partial, and perhaps only temporary, would be the “relief” the Delhi High Court has provided to the Aam Aadmi Party ~ more permanent could be the damage inflicted on the credibility of the Election Commission of India.

For the order of the bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar went beyond reinstating 20 MLAs, it came down heavily on the EC holding that its order disqualifying them was “vitiated and bad in law for failure to comply with the principles of natural justice”.

It will not be easy for Nirvachan Sadan to redeem its image and undo the collateral damage caused to Rashtrapati Bhawan by its recommendation to “de-seat” elected representatives.

The EC took the standard line of withholding comment until it had studied the court order, a sign of embarrassment, but the court had not refrained from expressing reservations over its internal procedures.

The High Court held quite correctly ~ affirming a principle even a first-year law student would recognise ~ that an accused person must be heard. It noted that the EC’s defence of being allowed to lay down its own procedure was untenable because the proceedings it conducted were quasi-judicial in nature.

Election Commissioner O P Rawat’s decision to recuse himself initially and to later join the adjudication without informing the AAP legislators was also found to be improper.

Separately, each of these findings causes grievous harm to the reputation of the EC, together they deal a crippling blow for until not so long ago the body was considered only second to the higher judiciary in terms of independence and propriety.

When remanding the AAP MLAs case back to the Commission, the High Court issued it a critical directive ~ to make a long overdue determination on the “seminal” issue of what constitutes an “office of profit”.

The High Court, rightly, dealt with the matter in cold judicial terms: but even if the AAP’s celebrations went somewhat overboard, politics cannot be excluded from the equation.

In common perception ~ and this cannot be discounted or ignored ~ the EC action will be perceived as part of the sustained campaign of the BJP to avenge the 3-67 rout it suffered in the first poll after it “captured” Raisina Hill.

And that would fuel suspicions that the Lieutenant-Governor is an active campaigner too. Arvind Kejriwal’s authoritative style of functioning has fouled his relations with just about everybody ~ the bureaucracy, the Punjab unit of his party… now the High Court has helped him to, at least partially, redeem himself.

The EC is the biggest loser. The impression that it has in recent times toed the government’s line has been reinforced: now there could be added impetus added to the “drive” against the EVMs by which it swears.

And every move from Nirvachan Sadan will be critically scrutinised ~ the High Court order has eroded its pristine projection. It will take a lot to repair its image.