In its ongoing 'battle' loaded with criticism with Election Commission of India , the Congress has coined a new word on what ithe party now describes it as "unabashedly partisan" by acting like the middleman for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
As the opposition INDIA Bloc is up in arms against ECI for electoral roll revision issue in Bihar, Congress in particular is leaving no day without lashing out at both ECI and BJP accusing both of having 'politically motivated' intentions behind the move.The party charged that the Special Intensive Review of electoral rolls in Bihar ahead of the elections was aimed at disenfranchising about two crore voters who may not be able to furnish the documents the Commission is seeking.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here today, senior party leaders including Chairman of the Media and Publicity Department Pawan Khera, Bihar Congress president Rajesh Kumar and the AICC in-charge for Bihar Krishna Allavaru stated that the role of the Commission had come under strong suspicion and any shred of credibility that had been left has also gone away.
Pawan Khera observed that the 'SIR' was a clear conspiracy to disenfranchise the Bihar voters and deny them their basic right to vote. He noted that the ECI was acting like the puppet of the BJP government. Khera took strong exception to the way the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, dealt with a delegation of eleven parties belonging to the INDIA bloc. He told the CEC that he should leave a better legacy for the future lest his name be dumped in the dustbin of history.
"The way ECI is being run poses a serious threat to democracy - not just against the Opposition, but against each and every voter", the senior Congress leader warned, while pointing out that the Constitution defines everybody's limits, and no one, including the Commission, should try to breach those limits,"."With all humility at my command, I warn the ECI that governments come and go. Why are you being so servile to them? It would be better if you followed the Constitution", he told the Commission, while remarking, "so many 'shahs' and 'shahanshahs' came and went away".
He also took a dig at the CEC for feeding the media with his WhatsApp messages, trying to plant stories attributed to 'sources'.Suspecting the motive and intention of the ECI behind this exercise, Bihar PCC president Rajesh Kumar observed that it was a clear attempt to snatch away the basic voting right of the Bihar voters.
He pointed out that there will be practical difficulties in carrying out the Special Intensive Review of the electoral rolls in just one month, as the government does not have adequate resources, particularly the manpower to do that.He noted that the CEC had said that the Commission expects around 20 per cent of voters in Bihar to be disenfranchised. He said, it's the poor and marginalised people who will be most affected by this exercise, as they are unlikely to be able to furnish the required documents, particularly their own and their parents' birth certificates.
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