Congress on Friday criticised the Election Commission for its “procedure” which it used to attend to concerns of its President, Mallikarjun Kharge in his letter addressed to the Opposition leader regarding late voter turnout sharing as “regrettable.”
“The way the Election Commission has resolved these issues is deeply regrettable,” said Ramesh, head of communications at the AICC.
The Electoral Commission voiced a strong objection to Hager’s letter stating that it was seeking for clarification while in actual sense, it wanted “to advance a biased narrative”.
Ramesh said Haq’s response by the committee was just “beyond words.”
“The Electoral Commission is a constitutional body and has the responsibility to be an impartial body that ensures and is seen to ensure a level playing field for all political parties,” he said.
“Both the content and intention of this letter will forever tarnish the reputation of an institution that has luminaries like Sukumar Sen, TN Seshan, JM Lyngdoh and others,” Ramesh said.
Senior Congress leader Chidambaram said the Election Commission was not beyond criticism.
“When the RBI, C&AG, Financial Commission and other institutions can be criticized, why does ECI think it should not be criticized?” he said.
Chidambaram also invited parliamentarians to talk about lapses by ECs and omissions made during elections because all political parties have experienced such situation with current voting rights till now.
“Even TN Seshan has been criticized. Why are they three mad with us now?” Chidambaram asked rhetorically
Congress leaders spoke about valid points raised by Haqq in his letters with counter questions from committee.
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