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BJP defends Election Commission amid SIR controversy and row (Img: X)
New Delhi: The BJP on Wednesday defended the Election Commission amid a controversy over reported differences among its three commissioners. Party MP Sambit Patra said internal deliberations were part of a healthy democratic process. He also accused the Congress of targeting constitutional institutions.
During a press conference, Patra referred to the Election Commission’s press note and said correspondence among the three Election Commissioners had taken place on 14 occasions. The remarks came after reports of objections raised by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. The poll panel has maintained that its decisions, including those concerning the Special Intensive Revision, were taken unanimously.
"I am not here to hold a press conference on behalf of the Election Commission. I have brought the press note issued by the EC, and I have read it. I hope you have also read it," he said.
Patra said the correspondence showed that the commissioners had formally exchanged views and consulted one another.
"But now there has been correspondence among the three commissioners on 14 occasions. This is official deliberation among the three election commissioners. What do we gather from this? The BJP did not go and plant a story in the media saying that there had been official deliberations among the three commissioners. Such deliberations are actually a sign of a healthy democracy..."
Patra accused opposition parties of questioning the Election Commission regardless of whether its commissioners appeared to agree or exchanged differing views.
"If the three election commissioners who conduct elections in the country do not communicate with each other, do not exchange views or consult one another, and simply keep agreeing with each other, then the Opposition parties say, 'This is a dictatorship.'"
"They say, 'This government appointed all three of them, and they simply keep saying yes to everything. They are all supporters of Modi.'"
Referring to the opposition’s use of the term "Godi media", Patra said similar allegations were now being directed at the poll panel.
"You say the same thing about the media, calling it 'Godi media', and now you say these three commissioners are also 'Godi' people."
Patra linked the controversy to what he described as a wider Congress campaign against constitutional institutions.
"You know how, since 2014, when the Modi government came to power, opposition parties have been falling one after another. They did not fall on a battlefield, but in the democratic arena, as their existence came under threat because they were not chosen by the people," he said.
He added, "After that, particularly the Congress party realised that it could not win elections, and so the biggest weapon in its hands was to 'kill the institutions of the country'. It began attacking our constitutional institutions and trying to defame them."
Patra said the criticism of the EC was part of the same campaign, "In the same context and as part of the same campaign, several parties have held press conferences today regarding the Election Commission."
