BENGALURU/BELAGAVI: Civil society groups have expressed strong displeasure and frustration over the visit of about 75 foreign delegates from 23 countries on a tour of India to study the Lok Sabha elections, and say that it appears to be “a protected tour, stage-managed exercise and a sham”.
In Belagavi, members of Yeddelu Karnataka, an umbrella organisation of social and political activists, criticised the district administration for refusing to allow them to meet members of the delegation which visited Belagavi and Chikkodi, where polls were held on Tuesday.
A group of activists met Belagavi Deputy Commissioner Nitesh Patil with a request to permit them to meet representatives of five foreign countries who were in Belagavi on Monday and Tuesday. However, Patil refused to permit them, saying he had no authority to issue such permits.
“We told him we had valid reasons to raise objections to the poll process followed by the Election Commission of India, and would like to bring this to the notice of the foreign delegates. But he did not listen and said we were free to complain to the ECI or approach the Supreme Court. Then we decided to present a memorandum to the DC with a request to pass it on to the foreign delegates,’’ Siddagouda Modagi, farmer leader and Eddelu Karnataka member, told reporters.
The memorandum said the EC has failed to conduct free and fair elections, with dereliction of duty. The process of appointing the Chief Election Commissioner is biased, affecting its autonomy. The model code of conduct is selectively implemented, complaints against the ruling party are not taken seriously, and grievances about EVMs are also not addressed. ECI has not acted against speeches by leaders like the PM, hate and divisive politics that openly targets a specific minority group, like arrest of chief ministers and freezing of accounts of opposition parties etc.
Reacting to this, Ashok Sharma, retired IFS officer, and MG Devasahayam, retired senior IAS officer from Bengaluru, told TNIE, “They brought the delegates to show public trust in the electoral process, so why are they avoiding civil society? They claim it is the largest delegation of foreign delegates who have come to independently see our electoral process. Civil society groups wanted to meet them but were not allowed.”