Opposition's allegations against Election Commission are a conspiracy to defame democracy: Sambit Patra!

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Dr. Sambit Patra held a press conference at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi on Wednesday and accused the opposition parties of tarnishing the image of the Election Commission. He said that after the formation of Narendra Modi government in 2014, the opposition parties kept losing elections and now they are trying to defame democracy by raising questions on constitutional institutions.

Sambit Patra said that today many opposition parties held a press conference regarding the Election Commission (ECI), but they themselves got caught in the trap of their own allegations. He said that the opposition is trying to portray the Election Commission and the Central Government as dictatorship, whereas the Election Commission is working in a completely democratic manner.

Citing the press note issued by the Election Commission, he said that in its very first paragraph it is clearly written that the decision of Special Intensive Review (SIR) was taken unanimously after all official and democratic deliberations. All three Election Commissioners were unanimous on this decision and there was no difference of opinion among them.

The BJP spokesperson said that if the three Election Commissioners of the country communicate and correspond among themselves, then it is a healthy tradition of democracy. There is nothing wrong in this. He said that no constitutional institution of India including the Election Commission is under any dictatorship, but is performing its responsibilities democratically within the ambit of the Constitution.

Responding to the opposition's allegations of vote theft, Patra gave the example of West Bengal. He claimed that among the 20 assembly seats in the state where maximum votes were deducted, Trinamool Congress won on 13 seats, Congress on one seat and BJP on six seats. He said that in such a situation the allegation of vote theft does not match the facts.

Sambit Patra also targeted Congress and mentioned the incidents of 2005 and 2009. He said that in 2005, Sonia Gandhi had announced the appointment of Naveen Chawla as the Chief Election Commissioner, even though she did not hold any constitutional post.

Patra claimed that in 2009, the then Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswamy had written a letter to the President recommending the removal of Naveen Chawla from the Election Commission and accused him of working for the Congress and sharing confidential information.

BJP spokesperson said that instead of removing him, the Congress government made Naveen Chawla the Chief Election Commissioner and the 2009 Lok Sabha elections were conducted under his supervision. He alleged that today the same Congress is questioning the impartiality of the Election Commission, whereas in the past it had tried to influence the Election Commission.