Election Commission of India in New Delhi. (Photo |Shekhar Yadav, EPS)
Election Commission of India in New Delhi. (Photo |Shekhar Yadav, EPS)

Grey areas in Election Commission poll code report on PM's mission Shakti address: Ex-bureaucrat

CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury also wrote to the EC expressing his dissatisfaction over the EC’s stand.

NEW DELHI: A day after the Election Commission gave a clean chit to PM Narendra Modi’s address on mission Shakti, former bureaucrat and ex-CEO Prasar Bharti, Jawahar Sircar said there are many be grey areas in the EC report. 

On the other side, Sitaram Yechury has said that the PM as a candidate is using the office of the Prime Minister to convey a development achieved by our scientists. This constitutes a gross misuse of the office for furthering electoral objectives.  “I feel that the EC should have been informed about the PM’s address. And, the EC could have mentioned it in its report,” Sircar said. He has also served as the chief electoral officer in West Bengal.

“A shameful day for the Election Commission that was built by TN Seshan and a thousand officers like us — who stood up for fair play, as Returning Officers & Observers!,” Sircar had tweeted expressing his feelings over the EC giving a clean chit to the PM on Friday evening.

In its report, the EC said that “The committee members examined, in detail, the transcript of PM’s message, inputs given by DG, DD and DG, AIR and all correspondence received from them. It is clear that Doordarshan has only used the feed provided by ANI. The All India Radio has taken audio output as broadcast by Doordarshan News for dissemination over All India Radio network.” 

Reacting, Sircar said that there are many grey areas. It is not clear why a private broadcaster was used for the address on national security. “It’s direct favour to the private broadcaster. When you use DD and AIR for broadcast on national issues like on the occasion of Republic Day and Independence Day, then DD should have been used as it was a matter of national security,” he added.

CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury also wrote to the EC expressing his dissatisfaction over the EC’s stand. “The PM and other leaders of the BJP are actively campaigning saying that this government has shown the guts which previous governments did not. What else does this mean but a gross misuse of the office of the Prime Minister for seeking electoral gains,” he said.

Foolish govt: PC 
Congress leader P Chidambaram hit out at the PM for announcing that India had demonstrated anti-satellite missile capability, saying only a “foolish government” would make such a disclosure and “betray” a defence secret. Chidam-baram tweeted, “The capability to shoot down a satellite has existed for many years. A wise government will keep the capability secret. Only a foolish government will disclose it...”
 

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