NEW DELHI: Amid a row over reports in a media report on the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and differences among its commissioners, the BJP on Wednesday rejected the Opposition’s allegations, saying differing views during official deliberations showed that the poll panel was functioning democratically.
BJP national spokesperson and MP Sambit Patra said the ECI had made clear that, after democratic deliberations, the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was unanimous.
He said neither the ECI nor any constitutional body functioned under dictatorial rule. Patra said differences among Election Commissioners were part of democratic functioning and argued that, without discussion, the Opposition would call them “yes men” of the government.
Taking aim at the Congress over its demand to impeach CEC Gyanesh Kumar, Patra said the party wanted to impeach everyone, from the Lok Sabha Speaker to the CEC, but was itself being “continuously impeached” by voters.
He accused the Congress and its allies of running a smear campaign to discredit the ECI and other constitutional bodies because they could not defeat the BJP’s “politics of development”. He rejected the Congress allegation of “vote chori”, saying elections had been conducted smoothly since 2014.
On SIR, Patra cited the Supreme Court’s judgment upholding its legality and said faith must rest with voters. Patra said, “We are not trying to save anybody. We are trying to save democracy. We are trying to demolish the smear campaign against constitutional bodies.”