BENGALURU: As Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge constituted an Empowered Action Group of Leaders and Experts -- EAGLE -- to monitor elections by the Election Commission of India, many civil society groups have welcomed the decision.
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) Director Venkatesh Nayak said, "This monitoring group is a welcome and long overdue move. Vigilant opposition parties must monitor whether or not the process is conducted according to the rule book. If chunav ka parv (festival of elections) is to truly become desh ka garv (pride of the country), a strict vigil must be maintained.I hope the empowered group makes efforts to collect grassroots-level feedback from election agents, polling agents and counting agents from every constituency and seeks legal remedies against actions and omissions that violate the sanctity of the electoral process.''
Supreme Court advocate Mehmood Pracha, also Mission Save Constitution convener, said, "Congress has at least taken a first step. We are ready to help them and share the extensive data and information that we have gathered after much research. But we wish to inform them that mere monitoring may not really help but we have to work towards a long-term solution. There are many civil society groups that I'm working with, all of whom are seeking greater transparency in the poll process."
Former IAS officer Devasahayam said, "This response from Congress is too little too late. They need to be more firm in responding to this serious issue.''