New Delhi [India], August 19 (ANI): Questioning the “partisan” role of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, the opposition parties on Monday said that the top poll body official has failed to answer even a single question raised by the INDIA bloc and other parties which have flagged concerns regarding “electoral manipulation”.
They noted that during the press conference on Sunday, CEC Gyanesh Kumar acted more like a “spokesperson of the BJP” than as the head of a constitutional body.
However, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Centre and its allies slammed the opposition parties while accusing them of “abusing” the Election Commission, which is a Constitutional body.
Addressing a press conference at the Constitution Club of India, the INDIA bloc leaders including Gaurav Gogoi, Dr Naseer Hussain, Mahua Moitra, Sanjay Singh, Arvind Sawant, Tiruchi Siva, Manoj Jha and John Brittas regretted that instead of addressing the grave concerns among the people about the fairness of the electoral process, the CEC had attacked the opposition.
The INDIA leaders said the CEC gave no clarification or comment on the Supreme Court’s order of August 14, which rejected all arguments made by the Election Commission (EC) to prevent the release of basic data of the 65 lakh voters deleted in Bihar.
The opposition leaders pointed out that the CEC offered no clarification or comment on the allegations of voter fraud in Mahadevapura made by Rahul Gandhi, except to reiterate his legally questionable demand for the data to be submitted via affidavit.
“Furthermore, the CEC refused to answer any hard questions regarding why no inquiry or investigation had taken place into the allegations of voter fraud,” they added.
The INDIA leaders said the ECI has completely failed in discharging its constitutional duty of ensuring a free and fair electoral process in the country. It has now become clear that the ECI is not being led by officers who can ensure a level playing field.
On the contrary, they added that “those who lead the ECI divert and thwart any attempt at a meaningful inquiry into voter fraud and instead opt to intimidate those who challenge the ruling party.”
Gaurav Gogoi said the CEC was unable to answer any questions, but was running away from its responsibility. He said, instead of answering the questions posed to the Election Commission of India, the CEC went on attacking the opposition.
He pointed out that the CEC remained quiet on several issues, like how 70 lakh votes were added in Maharashtra within a span of 5 months, why the EC decided to delete CCTV footage within 45 days, how one lakh fake voters were added in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment and why Aadhaar card was not accepted as valid proof of identity.
“It is clear that the ECI is under the command of partisan officials rather than non-partisan ones,” he said, while adding that this is why the Commission resists any inquiry into voter fraud.
Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Ram Gopal Yadav disclosed that his party had complained to the Election Commission in 2022, along with 18,000 affidavits, stating that the votes of the SP supporters had been deleted. But, he added, nothing has happened so far.
Referring to the CEC seeking an affidavit from Rahul Gandhi, he asked, What happened to the 18,000 affidavits submitted by the SP way back in 2022.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra said that her party supremo, Mamata Banerjee, had raised the issue of duplicate EPIC cards way back in February, but nothing had happened till now. She said yesterday’s press conference was a shameful display of puppetry by the CEC. She told him that he should leave the job of attacking the opposition to his political masters.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha said that there was a complete erosion of faith in the ECI. He also said that the CEC deliberately chose to address a press conference on Sunday just to try to divert attention from the Voter Adhikar Yatra, which began around the same time yesterday in Bihar.
DMK MP Tiruchi N Siva said that ECI was empowered to prevent any interference. He said the ECI has come under the scanner. Referring to yesterday’s press conference, he said, instead of clarification, it had only raised many more questions.
Arvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena (UBT) alleged that during the press conference, the CEC was behaving like the spokesperson of the BJP. He said the CEC had no answers as to how 70 lakh votes were added within a span of 5 months in Maharashtra.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP John Brittas said that the CEC has forfeited his right to hold that position. He noted that he had declared war on opposition parties.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh said that there was no logic in what the CEC said during the press conference, and it was devoid of any facts. He also asked, “How was it possible that while 65 lakh votes were deleted in the SIR exercise in Bihar, not a single new voter was added?”
He said, similarly, the ECI had deleted 42,000 votes in the New Delhi constituency before the Delhi assembly elections.
As this happened, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the centre and its allies slammed the opposition parties while accusing them of “abusing” the Election Commission, which is a constitutional body.
Rijiju earlier in the day slammed Congress for “abusing” the constitutional bodies, including the EC and the Supreme Court. He said that Congress “abuses” the EC when they lose elections.
“The Election Commission of India is a constitutional body, and who will answer on their behalf in the parliament? Congress should keep its concerns in front of the Election Commission of India. If the Election Commission of India has asked for some documents from the Congress party, it is their responsibility to answer them,” the Union Minister said.
“They abuse the Election Commission of India, the Supreme Court, and constitutional bodies. When they lose, they abuse the Election Commission of India. Congress will never come to power again as they abuse the public,” he added.
Responding to charges of “vote theft” against EC, Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said that the opposition was discussing “unconstitutional” matters.
“Is vote theft a constitutional matter? They (the opposition) are talking about unconstitutional things. This is a process, and through it, all this is happening, so what is wrong with it? If they consider it wrong, then they are thinking about unconstitutional things,” he added.
BJP MP Manan Kumar Mishra further accused the opposition of “wasting time” and said that abusing the constitutional bodies was their habit.
“The opposition only wants to waste time. Abusing the constitutional bodies has become their habit. Their only intention is to abuse the constitutional bodies and want to create a situation like Bangladesh,” Mishra told ANI.
The opposition has been demanding a parliamentary discussion on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar and on the allegation of vote theft. However, the government remain adamant that the issue will not be taken up in the parliament for debate since it was a matter between EC and Congress. (ANI)
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