New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday slammed the Centre as well as Chief Election Commissioner Gyanendra Kumar over reports that the two election commissioners,
Sukhbir Sing Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, raised questions 14 times in 10 months over SIR roll-out.
Addressing a press conference on The Indian Express report, senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of murdering the democracy of the country. He added that they placed the CEC on one side, and the Home Ministry on the other.
“The BJP has opened an office for the murder of democracy. On one side, they have placed the CEC, and on the other side, the Home Ministry. This issue is extremely serious. It is dangerous for our democracy,” he said.
‘Internal bulldozer in form of EC’
The Congress leader added, “If you go deep into it, we already know about an external bulldozer. You have seen that bulldozer attacking various institutions. They did not spare the judiciary or the media. There is an internal bulldozer as well, in the form of the Election Commission. This is extremely dangerous for India’s democracy”.
Talking about the Supreme Court’s ruling in 1995, he added, “The top court made it clear that the Election Commission is a multi-member institution. You may remember that during the tenure of T. N. Seshan, the question arose as to whether the CEC was supreme. The Election Commissioners have equal rights in decision-making; the CEC does not have unilateral authority.
“Fourteen times in ten months, there have been written objections and disagreements. On August 13, Sandhu wrote that the changes being made through Form 6 were unauthorized and illegal. Both Joshi and Sandhu objected to the changes in Form 6 in writing. There was no response,” he noted.
