Amid allegations of “voter fraud” against the Election Commission, Congress MP Manish Tewari said the poll body faces a serious “trust deficit” as it carries “very little conviction” and almost “zero credibility.”
Raising objections to the appointment process of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners, Tewari argued that no matter how many press conferences the Commission holds, it will not make any difference.
“The challenge for the EC is, as the Supreme Court had obitered, TRUST DEFICIT. The EC carries very little conviction or, for that matter, almost zero credibility with large swathes of the political firmament and by extension the people of India,” Tewari wrote in a post on X.
“As long as the executive ‘veto’ remains with regard to the appointment of the Commissioners of the EC, no matter how many Press Conferences the EC does, it will not matter even one bit whatsoever,” he added.
The President appoints the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners based on the recommendation of a Selection Committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister under the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023.
Tewari further advised the Commission to “correct” the perception that it functions as an extension of the Union Government.
“The EC has to correct the widely held perception that it is an extension of the Union Government. It, unfortunately, is now a sobriquet like the ‘Godi Media’. This is not good for Indian Democracy,” the Congress MP said.
His remarks came after the Election Commission flagged that the time to raise issues about errors in the electoral rolls, including those from the past, was during the “Claims and Objections” period.
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According to the poll body, the purpose of sharing electoral rolls with all political parties and candidates was to ensure that any errors could be raised and corrected in time. It noted that both digital and physical copies are shared with recognised political parties following the publication of the final electoral roll on its website.
“Recently, some Political Parties and individuals have raised issues about errors in the Electoral Rolls, including those prepared in the past. The appropriate time to raise any issue with the Electoral Rolls would have been during the Claims and Objections period of that phase, which is precisely the objective behind sharing the Electoral Rolls with all Political Parties and the Candidates,” the Commission said in an official release.
“Had these issues been raised at the right time through the right channels, it would have enabled the concerned SDM EROs to correct the mistakes, if genuine, before those elections,” the release added.
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